Show HN: Down – The easiest way to get together with friends

https://www.down.life

by mkolodny • 11 years ago

29 14 11 years ago

down.life

cmacpher• 11 years ago

This actually looks really useful.

DanielStraight• 11 years ago

So... is this group text to contacts who are within some radius by GPS position?

mkolodny3• 11 years ago

By default all of your nearby friends are selected when you go to invite people to do something. We've found that people end up using Down to invite friends who they'd like to hang out with, but aren't necessarily close enough with to text.

Once you send out invites, everyone you invited becomes part of a group chat about the event.

pbhjpbhj2• 11 years ago

"What are you down for?" //

Unless you understand that particular vernacular this is a question as to why someone is upset/depressed. "Down" carries a lot of negative weight as a word; I'd consider a rename/rebrand. Of course it's perhaps trendy enough in a particular region/segment to overpower the negative association?

I don't see any differentiators in the page from a Facebook event listing; the "See who's down" could probably use some more info?

FWIW on app store page: s/show/shout, s/Beta/beta.

mkolodny3• 11 years ago

That's a good point. I think Seinfeld would agree with you on the negative connotation :)

We chose the name Down because it's vernacular that we and a lot of our friends use really commonly. The first thing we think of when we hear the word "down" is that someone's excited to do something. It's possible that we're biased by who we hang out with though. Any ideas for a good name if we were to rebrand?

We kind of think of Down as a light-weight, mobile-optimized Facebook Events.

You can use Down for large, Facebook Events-size events. But you can also use Down to invite a friend to lunch. Or a few friends over to watch a movie. Those aren't really things you'd use Facebook Events for.

Down's also mobile optimized in that you can have a group chat with everyone who's invited. I think it's the fastest, easiest way to invite people to do something.

fragmede• 11 years ago

Any ideas for a good name if we were to rebrand?

To continue the direction trend, Up

'u up 4 avengers?' works just as well in the vernacular as 'u down 4 avengers?' and is 50% as heavy to type (err, 'more optimized for mobile')

Sup would work, Yo's already been taken. Come Hang, Hangouts is already taken...

pbhjpbhj2• 11 years ago

Funnily enough up and down both work - "what are you up for" and "what are you down for" can be synonyms. "What are you down for" can also be an enquiry in to what you signed up for ... isn't English great?!? Where I am we're more likely to ask "are you up for it"; though there's a slight connotation of meeting a challenge in that phrase.

Did you do any market research - perhaps ask people in the right demographic to write a tweet/text [ie SMS message] as if to invite you to an informal impromptu event and take your inspiration from there.

"Happening"? is all I got right now.

That bit you said about what Down does better - why isn't that on your landing page?

tl;dr sorry I don't really have any ideas what's better - if it resonates well with you then perhaps you're best to stick with it.

dopeboy• 11 years ago

Mike - excellent work. It's been fascinating to see this idea go from idea to reality - honored to be part of that. I'm down for Down.

lsiunsuex• 11 years ago

Screenshots look cool but the obvious downfall of apps like this is getting friends to use it. Any plans for an Android version? Friends and I are pretty much split down the middle with half of us as iOS users and the other half as Android users.

Will keep it installed for a bit and see if anyone is "down to try it"

c54• 11 years ago

Hey, I'm one of the founders/developers.

There are definitely plans for an Android app, that's one of the first next things we will work on as we gain users.

Currently, the app text messages people who don't have it installed, including android and winphone users -- basically the same thing GroupMe does.

:) thanks for checking it out, keep the feedback coming!

andrewmcwatters• 11 years ago

I laughed a bit when I realized this wasn't Bang With Friends https://www.downapp.com/

fiatjaf2• 11 years ago

Too much social networks.

mkolodny3• 11 years ago

Down solves a problem that I don't think any social network has solved yet: making it simple to connect with friends in the real world. One of our friends called Down a "true" social app.

@andrewlinfoot put it really well - "We created Down because we want to make getting together with your friends as easy as checking Facebook. We find all of our best memories come from hanging out with our friends in real life, not sitting around scrolling through feeds on our phones. We think existing social apps are great, but they focus too much on replacing our lives with digital equivalents, and don’t do enough to encourage actually getting together with friends."

fiatjaf2• 11 years ago

You are right.

But still there are too many social networks. I hope yours replace all others.

Show HN: Down – The easiest way to get together with friends

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