Product Virality and Traction

Look at ways to make it viral. Get fans to invite each other

The biggest problem most social media sites have is getting interest from the general public. Every single move he makes is reported world wide. It's the equivalent of billions of dollars in free advertising. 10 years from now we'll be hearing about his ideas curtesy of his social media site. All free of charge. He's a bonehead but ultimately he will succeed simply because enough people will try the product to give it traction. He just needs to make sure he continues to move forw

People complaining/adoring it/in general talking and sharing link to signup is PR dream.

You might be surprised - crunch the numbers to find out how many people are actually using it, then start emailing any relevant, big blogs, software products, services etc. If you've got enough traffic someone'll bite.

My guess is all the media attention actually got them more signups

See...not exacly.Because, If I create an account on Soundcloud, put some awesome music that I created, what will happen ? Nothing. Same for Youtube. I would have to be detected by someone with a huge number of followers to take off.If I make an awesome post on start-up or about an experience, and I post it and HN, I could go from 0 to lots of good (read "targeted") traffics.If I make a great anwser on Quora, I could go from nothing to lots of readers.

It is almost like your are advertising yourself on these networks. Couldn't people just find you from word of mouth?

The links are very relevant. It seems a well-known phenomenon.I think a core set of high-karma people heavily promoted Tailscale on HN in early days (and until recently). Like, not just commenting on Tailscale’s posts, but actively advertising it on various social media. I think that was crucial.I don’t think it works well if you are not connected to or supported by these people.

Maybe if everyone on HN that like it bookmarks it.I think you've highlight the core issue yourself though. You approached us and got some interest. Unless you engage with communities getting love back is unlikely.You should be actively looking for people with this problem and giving them the solution. The more you do, the more it will spread until it's self-sustaining.

Maybe if everyone on HN that like it bookmarks it.I think you've highlight the core issue yourself though. You approached us and got some interest. Unless you engage with communities getting love back is unlikely.You should be actively looking for people with this problem and giving them the solution. The more you do, the more it will spread until it's self-sustaining.