Friendsweekly – A weekly newsletter to stay in touch with people you care about(friendsweekly.com)
friendsweekly.com
Friendsweekly – A weekly newsletter to stay in touch with people you care about
https://friendsweekly.com/
11 comments
Can you elaborate on the podcast thing
A 'podcast' is (or was!) a media file located at the 'url' of an RSS feed item 'enclosure'.
When a podcasting downloading application (aka:'podcatcher') 'subscribes' to the RSS feed, it gets notified (actually via a 'pull' or 'ping') that a new latest item is available. The application then automatically downloads the media file and places it in a playlist in your media player for offline use.
At least that's how it always used to be when we started building these things years ago. ;)
Hope this helps.
When a podcasting downloading application (aka:'podcatcher') 'subscribes' to the RSS feed, it gets notified (actually via a 'pull' or 'ping') that a new latest item is available. The application then automatically downloads the media file and places it in a playlist in your media player for offline use.
At least that's how it always used to be when we started building these things years ago. ;)
Hope this helps.
The term has been somewhat evolved to mean an 'episodic' series of media files (audio or video). Which is why so many places call them a podcast now.
Rather like when people online post a big blurb of text anywhere and just call it a 'blog'. it diminishes the true meaning of the term.
Rather like when people online post a big blurb of text anywhere and just call it a 'blog'. it diminishes the true meaning of the term.
I can't find a link to their privacy policy. I like the idea but would be hesitant to give it a go without giving that a glance-over.
This looks great but I don't see anything about pricing / business model, which worries me. Are they going to start charging for subscriptions once they're established? or inserting ads everywhere to make money? or do the intend to pursue freemium features with a solid "free forever" feature set?
I only really want to invest the time and energy into getting my friends using this service if it's the latter.
I only really want to invest the time and energy into getting my friends using this service if it's the latter.
What kind of premium service on top of this would you suggest?
File or photo storage
International pen-pals
Long term journal archive
International pen-pals
Long term journal archive
Hey, this seems really neat to me. I'd really like it if it takes off.
That said, many people I know are 'addicted' to social media (mostly Instagram, some Facebook). It's less about sharing what's going on in your life with loved ones, and more about 'showing off' – a carefully curated feed of text and images. Often with the purpose of seeking approval or validation.
I have left all (traditional) social media for the most part, but I don't know if many people will be willing to do that, and/or replace/supplement it with this.
That said, many people I know are 'addicted' to social media (mostly Instagram, some Facebook). It's less about sharing what's going on in your life with loved ones, and more about 'showing off' – a carefully curated feed of text and images. Often with the purpose of seeking approval or validation.
I have left all (traditional) social media for the most part, but I don't know if many people will be willing to do that, and/or replace/supplement it with this.
> I don't know if many people ...
Every service doesn't need to appeal to every person, or to destroy FB.
Would it be successful with 1,000 users? 10,000? 100,000?
Certainly there's some small fraction of the world that would find this useful.
Every service doesn't need to appeal to every person, or to destroy FB.
Would it be successful with 1,000 users? 10,000? 100,000?
Certainly there's some small fraction of the world that would find this useful.
Is that small fraction in the same friend group? If not they'd be just a bunch of random strangers on the internet. The problem is that FB, Insta, etc... is where most people's friends are. I don't have any use for a social network my friends don't or won't use.
I really do like this idea. I have a few friends I send a long email to every 2 or 3 months, just to keep them up to date on my life, touch base, see how they are doing since the last time we spoke. I quite like the format. I don't need to tell people about my life daily, or in most cases even weekly or monthly.
I really do like this idea. I have a few friends I send a long email to every 2 or 3 months, just to keep them up to date on my life, touch base, see how they are doing since the last time we spoke. I quite like the format. I don't need to tell people about my life daily, or in most cases even weekly or monthly.
> Is that small fraction in the same friend group?
Certainly if you just select people at random, it's unlikely they'd all want this service.
But if you already send a long email to friends periodically, and if they appreciate reading your long emails, and if they occasionally send you lengthy updates, then chances are the folks in your friend group would like the product.
To quote patio11 talking about financial services:
If there is a 100x100 matrix of broadly consumed financial products and potential customer segments for them, we can compete on product for one cell of that matrix, win by utter domination, and then start expanding from there.
https://twitter.com/patio11/status/1208909582896181248
This approach might not work well for financial services, but shouldn't it might be feasible for like-minded groups of people.
Certainly if you just select people at random, it's unlikely they'd all want this service.
But if you already send a long email to friends periodically, and if they appreciate reading your long emails, and if they occasionally send you lengthy updates, then chances are the folks in your friend group would like the product.
To quote patio11 talking about financial services:
If there is a 100x100 matrix of broadly consumed financial products and potential customer segments for them, we can compete on product for one cell of that matrix, win by utter domination, and then start expanding from there.
https://twitter.com/patio11/status/1208909582896181248
This approach might not work well for financial services, but shouldn't it might be feasible for like-minded groups of people.
This is extremely sweet, quaint, and I absolutely love the concept... but... what RSS? Where's the privacy policy? Support via twitter? Who's project is this and what else are they doing with my data?
Can I at least see what the email will look like or how you'll pull all this data without signing up?
I created an account and tested the subscription function.
1) The subscription URL starts with http: instead of https: though your site has SSL set up.
2) The subscription URL can only be used by someone who is logged in. To improve onboarding, I think it should go to the create account screen as opposed to the login screen.
For me personally, I won't use (divulge my friend's email addresses to) this software unless it's open source and I can host it on my own server.
I'd be happy to donate $20 if I end up using it.
1) The subscription URL starts with http: instead of https: though your site has SSL set up.
2) The subscription URL can only be used by someone who is logged in. To improve onboarding, I think it should go to the create account screen as opposed to the login screen.
For me personally, I won't use (divulge my friend's email addresses to) this software unless it's open source and I can host it on my own server.
I'd be happy to donate $20 if I end up using it.
so it says it keeps your fam stuff out of the public social feeds... but uses email.. which makes a lot of stuff public, like sending postcards around the world right?
I think people are already confused enough about how email works and how non-private it is.. so I would be careful with that wording.. unless the emails are encrypted of course - then good on you for working on something cool.
RSS in the title is kind of mean - I was hoping to see a new mobile friendly version of netvibes / pageflakes that allowed friends and family to check off boxes to get notified about updates in some of the categories (rss feeds)- and make opml shareable / clone-able so people could start their own..
I tinkered with the idea of doing just that with buddypress and rss widgets for profiles. Have not researched a good way to close a profile or set of feeds, but the other pieces are there.
I think people are already confused enough about how email works and how non-private it is.. so I would be careful with that wording.. unless the emails are encrypted of course - then good on you for working on something cool.
RSS in the title is kind of mean - I was hoping to see a new mobile friendly version of netvibes / pageflakes that allowed friends and family to check off boxes to get notified about updates in some of the categories (rss feeds)- and make opml shareable / clone-able so people could start their own..
I tinkered with the idea of doing just that with buddypress and rss widgets for profiles. Have not researched a good way to close a profile or set of feeds, but the other pieces are there.
As others have said. The idea is good but without a privacy policy that is a lot of PII to be forking over.
But since the entire system is based upon lists and lists of email addresses, there REALLY needs to be a Ts & Cs and Privacy Policy in place here.
I'm assuming this is a one-man-band (Jayme?) behind this which I also commend, but if you don't add those things and also some background info about who's behind it (and how safe are all those email addresses) it's going to have a hard time winning trust.
(And yes, though I can kind of see where he's coming from, 'RSS' in the title title is misleading. Rather like Spotify calling a 'talkie' audio file a 'podcast'. It simply (and really) isn't.))