Re:Ask HN: How to "seed" new social network with non-users.
by snide on Saturday August 06, 2011 @04:09PM
(#2854801)
At one point I ran a social network around cars. Basically people would upload pics of their ride and attach all the gear that went into the car. I personally didn't own a car or know much about them, so what to do?
I ended up going in person to a bunch of meetup groups in the SF area with a Polaroid and digital camera. I'd ask dudes if they minded if I took pictures of their cars for my website. I'd take a bunch with the digital camera and then take one with the polaroid. I'd then write down a user/pass on the back of it along with the site's URL. Then I'd go home that night and build separate profiles for each car.
We got hundreds of user profiles this way. After a couple months we had a decent little community. Enough to scare our largest competitor into making an offer on the site.
When it comes to social networks, it's often much easier to market outside of your terminal.
I ended up going in person to a bunch of meetup groups in the SF area with a Polaroid and digital camera. I'd ask dudes if they minded if I took pictures of their cars for my website. I'd take a bunch with the digital camera and then take one with the polaroid. I'd then write down a user/pass on the back of it along with the site's URL. Then I'd go home that night and build separate profiles for each car.
We got hundreds of user profiles this way. After a couple months we had a decent little community. Enough to scare our largest competitor into making an offer on the site.
When it comes to social networks, it's often much easier to market outside of your terminal.