Posterous (YC S08) launches group blogs that are also email lists(mashable.com)
mashable.com
Posterous (YC S08) launches group blogs that are also email lists
http://mashable.com/2009/05/05/posterous-email-lists/
9 comments
This is ridiculously awesome and the exact feature we needed few months ago.
We started a blog for our larger extended family(50+ people) so there is a simple place for all our family communication. Yet a lot of the people in our family know only rudimentary use of the computer--and that means email. So the blog idea didn't quite work out and we're back to emailing--which is disorganized but works.
With this we can get the best of both worlds! Communicate via email, archive on a blog!
We started a blog for our larger extended family(50+ people) so there is a simple place for all our family communication. Yet a lot of the people in our family know only rudimentary use of the computer--and that means email. So the blog idea didn't quite work out and we're back to emailing--which is disorganized but works.
With this we can get the best of both worlds! Communicate via email, archive on a blog!
Would love for you to use Posterous for this, and would love to chat with you offline about how it works out for your team and how we can get better. My contact info is in my profile. =)
I'm more interested in how you got Mashable to cover this (so quickly). Anything you could share there? (yes, PR-related question).
Awesome feature, I'd imagine you will be using this mechanism to allow developers against your API to track API changes? :)
Awesome feature, I'd imagine you will be using this mechanism to allow developers against your API to track API changes? :)
For a brand that's gaining momentum, getting coverage is a bit easier. You might already follow the writers on twitter or vice versa, or if you're in SF/the valley you might even grab coffee with them.
For a company starting out, you need to either have a product so thoroughly badass that it trounces something else that is hot, or you need a connection / intro to someone who knows them well.
It doesn't have to be Michael Arrington himself -- in fact, he's obviously such a busy and important guy that it's almost impossible to get his attention. However, at each of these blogs there are staff writers. They're the ideal person to reach out to -- they're looking for great stories, and hey, you've got one.
Final tip: use bullet points. Include screenshots if you can. If you make it so compelling and so obvious that it's a story, and you practically write it for them, you make their life easier and that makes it a no-brainer for them to write about you.
As for API -- that sounds very cool. We're very psyched about becoming a more open platform to let people build apps on top of Posterous.
For a company starting out, you need to either have a product so thoroughly badass that it trounces something else that is hot, or you need a connection / intro to someone who knows them well.
It doesn't have to be Michael Arrington himself -- in fact, he's obviously such a busy and important guy that it's almost impossible to get his attention. However, at each of these blogs there are staff writers. They're the ideal person to reach out to -- they're looking for great stories, and hey, you've got one.
Final tip: use bullet points. Include screenshots if you can. If you make it so compelling and so obvious that it's a story, and you practically write it for them, you make their life easier and that makes it a no-brainer for them to write about you.
As for API -- that sounds very cool. We're very psyched about becoming a more open platform to let people build apps on top of Posterous.
Always know, and work an angle. Most stories have multiple facets - the entrepreneur's personality, background, the product, it's target market, where it's developed, what tech it uses etc - they can all be turned into angles interesting to specific blogs and bloggers. Take every single facet and work out who that angle will be appealing to and pitch it to them right.
I'm in love. May I have permission to marry your daughter?
[I just realized we don't do humor here. Mod me down :(]
[I just realized we don't do humor here. Mod me down :(]
Woah! I can see how this is different from an e-mail list that gets published on the web. ;-)
Interesting to see how a new layer of paint can bring old concepts to the masses.
Interesting to see how a new layer of paint can bring old concepts to the masses.
Posterous is great. I'm interested to know - was this something that you've had planned for a while, or did it come as a natural evolution of the product / feedback from users?
It's something we talked about even back during last summer when we first launched Posterous. It's great to finally be able to put it out there.
Once we launched group blogs though -- we did start hearing a lot of requests for this feature too. There's absolutely a validation piece to it. When users ask for it, you know there's something there.
Once we launched group blogs though -- we did start hearing a lot of requests for this feature too. There's absolutely a validation piece to it. When users ask for it, you know there's something there.
I've got a Google Group with old college friends which we've always wanted to be richer, but we don't want to lose the casual members by trying to migrate and change their habits. I think hooking it up to a group posterous account might be the right way to please everyone.
Very cool.
Very cool.
I wonder-- are they stripping out the reply/quotations somehow, or are those going to be showing up on the blog, too? Long, long streams of >>>>>>>>>>>>>||||>>>> make for crummy blogging.
Good point. I did an experiment a few weeks ago to see how this was handled on posterous by sending an email to a friend and cc'ing [email protected].
It was handled well on their end with a solid line on the left side of the reply. So it looks like something they are already prepared for.
It was handled well on their end with a solid line on the left side of the reply. So it looks like something they are already prepared for.
I like it, but it fails to load 3 out of 5 times when I click on a Posterous link. First day traffic blues?
Or it might just be another feature, or that I'm trying to see something that isn't there.
I've been searching for a merge between this, Chatterous and possibly etherpad for small-group collab. Alas, it eludes me still.