Ask HN: Why do people tell us they love our idea, sign up then never come back?

I'm a heavy Twitter user, and marketer, and use and love Hootsuite.<p>I just signed up, created one filter and one folder, so haven't spent a ton of time, but here's some initial feedback:<p>What problem are you trying to solve exactly? Your homepage says "easy Twitter filtering" yet the set up seems a bit complicated. Basically, from what I gather is you're another twitter client competing with Hootsuite, Tweetbot, Tweetdeck - all of which offer tweet filtering - so what is your key differentiator?<p>I think you're missing a differentiator - I can't find anything with your app that I can't already do with Hootsuite, so what would make me want to use TweetDig instead?<p>From a UX perspective, I would put Folder/Filter editing directly from the dashboard - an "Add Filter" button on the left side, and Edit option for existing filters (on hover, click, etc..) I had to search to find where to add/edit, and if your user's primary objective is filtering tweets, the ability to add/edit/manage filters should be much more prominent than buried under "Configuration".<p>You might want to consider looking at "Smarter filtering" with some natural language processing, machine learning, etc...<p>My biggest problem with saved searches and filters that I use is that often I'll get irrelevant stuff that clogs up those streams but does in fact match my criteria - I would see a ton of value in a twitter client where you can filter smarter - let me "ignore tweets in this 'filter' from this user", etc.. and go beyond simply matching criteria, to curate based on stuff I retweet, stuff I tweet, hashtags I use, etc...<p>My advice would be to focus on these things:<p>1. The ultimate problem you are trying to solve, and who has this problem? Find out what's most valuable to them in a solution. 2. User experience (not how pretty the UI is) but put yourself in your users' shoes, and do a walkthrough of your app. What is the objective your user is trying to achieve when they use your app, and are you making it as simple as possible for them to achieve that objective.<p>Best of luck!

1) Change your name. Tweet + Digg sounds like a social media parody. Also, I don't think you can use the word "tweet" in your name without risking being sued by Twitter. And, if you grow, you may expand beyond filtering Tweets.<p>2) Your audience and customers are people that use Twitter for business - small businesses, marketing departments, ad agencies, etc. Take a look at other firms in that space (SEOMoz, Buddy Media, HootSuite and see how they do things. Right now your language is geared towards consumers that like Twitter. Change that. Your website needs to explain to a small business how you can help them make more money.<p>3) It IS a good idea. Social media filtering is a big problem. You are just selling it to the wrong people.

It looks pretty interesting (I have a twitter account but barely use it, if ever).<p>What are the costs involved for the end user? Is it free? If so, tell them.<p>Consider your filter tweets section from an adoption standpoint:<p>Create filters to automatically move Tweets to folders, and reduce Twitter noise. Tweets can be filtered based on hashtags, URLs, Tweet content and author - or any combination of these.<p>1. I wouldn't recommend using the name 'folders'. Tweets aren't synonymous with letters (that go into folders), tweets are more like sticky notes. I'd suggest you think of a new name to call the tweet containers.<p>2. You first talk about moving tweets into folders and then about filtering them. (I think you are implying that you filter tweets into these 'folders'). You should use easier to understand terms such as 'Sort tweets from those who you are following into ...'. Use comparisons to simplify the explanation.<p>3. Provide sensible defaults or provide a sensible way to get users started. (ex. type in the twitter handle/username from your favourite tweeter). A demo is a good idea, but there should definitely also be an easy way to get started.<p>4. Market yourself effectively. From what I see on your website, it seems like the website is a twitter client - but I'm not sure. If it is a client, then say so. (You have to tell people what you want them to use your service for).<p>Some of the above recommendations simply require rewriting your copy (text on website). I have also suggested some options that will require hiring a developer. I reckon the best measure to use here is: if your mother uses twitter, will you be able to sit her down and will she be a 'self-starter' using your website or will you have to hold her hand? Try it. She'll definitely give you some useful input.:)

Hey - was in your beta when it first came out - tried it once and then didn't go back. To me it just wasn't instantly gratifying - too much setting up to do before it got compelling.<p>Happy to give it another go because it's been quite a while but: 1) Where did the sexy interface go? <a href="http://dribbble.com/prmack/projects/16669-Tweetdig" rel="nofollow">http://dribbble.com/prmack/projects/16669-Tweetdig</a> 2) Nothing's happening when I click around.

I rarely use twitter; I've made concerted efforts but I mostly find the SNR is too high. I looked at your front page but didn't find it compelling.<p>1. I don't want to filter noise to folders, I want to skip it entirely. 2. I could care less about "losing" or missing a tweet. If there's something important, I'll get an email. If there's something truly compelling to read about, there will be multiple chances for me to see a relevant tweet. 3. A successful pitch to me would be something along the lines of removing the noise so that I'm getting almost pure signal. 4. What is it that I'm getting? Is it web-based, is it an app that runs on a smart phone (which I don't own), desktop (which platform?), something else? 5. Your blog entries go from 8 May to 13 Aug. Your twitter account has a lot of gaps too. I totally understand how hard it is to keep up with this stuff (I'm guilty of this too), but it makes me not want to invest too much time into something that you aren't necessarily fully invested in.

I like it. It would be something I could see myself using, but I don't see myself taking the time to set it up. In your early experiments, who did you discover your target market to be. Remember signing up isn't enough of a hurdle to really determine your target market.<p>My first thought is, I don't see the pricing page. To me this is a service a marketing department or agency would use. That being said I don't think being free is the right choice.<p>I would try to find a few agencies who manage social media campaigns and a few social media managers for a brand. Set your price, help them setup their account and keep in close contact with them. Kind of a modified concierge MVP. I would not got free for them. Make sure they have some skin in the game, so they will give you honest feedback, and have more incentive to collect ROI from the service.

I'm not an avid Twitter user and this is only my personal impression rather than a guess why anybody else might be abandoning your app. That said:<p>Initially the idea of filtered tweets seemed compelling. I think everyone has that one spammy friend who they only follow because unfollowing would be impolite. But soon after signing up I realized that it's simply too much work to be worth it: not your app specifically, but using a separate client and having to come up with filters. Filtering and organizing is simply not natural for Twitter - it's meant to be a continuous stream where missing something is no big deal. I could <i>possibly</i> use filtering if it was in a form of a browser plugin (so I could still use twitter.com) and had just one option - to suppress tweets from a specific account.

The app is definitely useful for people who listen to twitter for marketing/customer support purposes. Your target user is probably someone who is using Tweetdeck or Hootsuite, rather than a casual user.<p>But then, both Tweetdeck and Hootsuite have similar functionality available. And they are very popular among prosumers and people who use Twitter for their work.<p>Probably the way to go for you guys would be to allow building some kind of custom search folders for Twitter, which people can then share. You can become a site where people come to discover the most interesting content from Twitter, curated by the people using the tools that you already have built.<p>Hope that makes sense.

Is your app social? Can users share their folders with other users? How often are you notifying your users via email of new features, reminders, etc?

Also make the Sign in with Twitter much more prominent.<p>Short video intro, showing the app in action. Show me how it will make my life easier.

Have you tried asking your users? Because they'll probably be only too happy to tell you.