Ask HN: How do you explain a social news site to computer noobs?

Posted by iamelgringo on Monday February 09, 2009 @04:23AM
from the ask-hn dept.

So, I just launched www.cuuute.com.

It's a social news site ala reddit/slinkset/HN. But my target demographic is going to be users of www.cuteoverload.com, www.catster.com and www.dogster.com, or http://petoftheday.com/talk/index.php. (Think ladies who love cute animals and pets)

One of the problems I'm having is that noob users don't get social news sites _at_all_. They think it's just a list of static links.

How would you explain how a social news site works to complete computer noobs? I'm planning on making a video to explain it, but I'll take all suggestions.

P.S. I know the site's a bit rough around the edges. I just launched 4 days ago.

( 9 comments | 5 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: How do you explain a social news site to computer... by stern on Monday February 09, 2009 @09:40AM (#473488)

I run http://cherrypeel.com and we are redesigning to solve a lot of the problems we had with people not understanding the site.

You need to have a tag line right at the top saying: "my website does X". Check out http://99designs.com as they do a great job of this.

Often people don't view the arrows as a voting button, so either change the icon to a heart or cute bunny etc or have some explanatory text describing how to vote or both. I've got feedback from people saying they thought the voting arrows were rising/falling icons, such as on the top 40 chart when they say; "this song moved up 6 spots".

People don't understand why they should vote. Explain that the more then vote, the better the site becomes for everyone. You might need to give people incentives to vote, such as karma, a level system or special names based on involvement.

Make the site look cute. The design doesn't say "this site serves up cute animals". I also wouldn't forward it on to my girlfriend as I don't think the cutness jumps out at you fast enough, which brings me to my next point.

What about having a preview function? There are lots of sites that have lots of cute pictures so why would I want to visit one that each picture is behind a click?

Have you check out the cute sub-reddit?

I got off topic but I hope this helps.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How do you explain a social news site to computer... by iamelgringo on Monday February 09, 2009 @01:37PM (#473914)

Thanks. I know the site design needs some work. The voting function needs to be explained and the preview function is on the "todo list". Thanks

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How do you explain a social news site to computer... by pclark on Monday February 09, 2009 @05:05AM (#473241)

"you thumbs up stuff you do like, thumbs down stuff you don't"?

Do you think if you're struggling to explain your concept to your potential users, isn't that a rather large problem?

The layout isn't very cute. Where are the cute images/colours? Clicking the header "cuute.com" should take you back to the homepage.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How do you explain a social news site to computer... by iamelgringo on Monday February 09, 2009 @01:38PM (#473919)

We're in the process of doing some design work on the site now.

And, the header taking you back to the main page is on the docket for today.

Thanks for the feedback.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How do you explain a social news site to computer... by iamelgringo on Monday February 09, 2009 @01:38PM (#473917)

We're in the process of doing some design work on the site now.

And, the header taking you back to the main page is on the docket for today.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How do you explain a social news site to computer... by iamelgringo on Monday February 09, 2009 @01:38PM (#473916)

We're in the process of doing some design work on the site now.

And, the header taking you back to the main page is on the docket for today.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How do you explain a social news site to computer... by iamelgringo on Monday February 09, 2009 @01:38PM (#473915)

We're in the process of doing some design work on the site now.

And, the header taking you back to the main page is on the docket for today.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How do you explain a social news site to computer... by murrayh on Monday February 09, 2009 @04:48AM (#473226)

Maybe try for a more blatant voting queue, like "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" (you can just ignore any thumbs down votes if you so choose, but make the button tactile - choosing to either vote something up or not vote at all is rare outside of social news sites AFAIK).

I'm not so much as suggesting thumbs up and thumbs down specifically, more that the up arrow means nothing to me and I know what a social news site is.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How do you explain a social news site to computer... by iamelgringo on Monday February 09, 2009 @05:07AM (#473245)

Thanks. That's a good idea. I need to work on the "vote" button.

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