Why social item-rating apps will never make it or will
The two apps in the wild that I speak of are @Oink and @Stamped. These two apps are of course incubated and launched from Silicon Valley, which over the last four years, thanks to Gavin Newsom, includes San Francisco. These two apps simply aren’t going to make it (crossing the chasm) because for two reasons: people don’t know what to share if there’s no limitations and the concept of shitty vs limited products.
Firstly: The limited vs shitty products conundrum. You need to ship early, and it shouldn’t be perfect. This mindset is easy to confuse and this very conundrum is any startup’s—located anywhere, with any sort of funding big or small—achilles heel. The problem with this mindset is people ship shitty products that aren’t focused, attempting to do too much inadequately overall that users simply can’t invest the time to extract its inherent value. You simply don’t understand us yet is the motto. Limited is simplified. You allow users a quality product that does one or two things very well nothing more.
With Oink the product should have been limited by geography. You rate items that can be discovered and visited through the UI reinforcing location around you therego building credibility in topics in your area. That’s the point of Oink, and they market it that way. Since Oink is mobile-only, a user should perceive the option to visit anything people rate. Oink is suppose to be a reviews-in-your-area-from your-friends you trust. Oink however breaks down by not limiting its product. You can rate anything, anywhere. This increases noise and deflates the signal users see as value. Suddenly my feed is full of meaningless ‘Oinks, mehs, likes’ of designer chairs on websites or the socks my friend put on this morning. As a user I have to walk through the mud, oinking, to find a gem. From my last tally, most people I know who used Oink stopped for this very reason.
Stamped gets this part right, almost: you either stamp it or you don’t. The product gives you less choice. It’s UI is more controlled allowing form and function to coexist from this giving the user more control and encouragement to share by the very existance of limitations. But Stamped gets away from itself when it markets ‘and more!’ It shouldn’t. Focus on books, shops, movies and things that people can visit and rate. Get people to discover new things in their city by approving ‘this item here is insane! You must try. I approve.’ Don’t encourage the options for users to begin rating their breakfast at their house.
To the heart of the matter: people simply don’t know what to share when new apps come along that build a vertical ontop of what people perceive ‘There’s Facebook for that.’ From this, people have an opportunity cost to decide what to share on what and from this, a shitty product won’t grow precisely by it offering too much too quickly. By allowing a limited product, that reinforces location-based items to rate within your geography than anything conceivably known to man—people will be encouraged to maintain that vertical in their life. If you try to do too much your UI must reinforce this plethora of choice. Most UIs that try immediately fail because your common user isn’t you. Your offering is diluted, people begin sharing meaningless things that are simply unattractive. You won’t cross over the value chasm.
Limiting is your only hope.
