{your-name} fan club app.
Getting a few likes, or a little boost on your social posts can make a big difference.
It can change how you feel about them, how others perceive your ‘presence’, and actually how effective they are with some algorithms.
As @Primer recently asked “what’s with all these ‘follow each other’ posts” (I agree by the way) - there’s a rise in people wanting to connect... I can’t help feel like the 3 points above might have something to do with it.
So it got me thinking; for lots of indie hackers, just the promise of support online is quite a gift to give.
Instead of socks for Christmas, just a like or a comment on a post here and there is actually much more valuable.
Introducing... an app that lets you ask a small (closed) group to cheer you on every time you post.
- Triggers emails / SMS / whatsapp each time you post.
- Instructions on how they can help - I.e. upvote / retweet.
- Ideas on comments.
I feel sometimes people would love to help, but don’t know how, don’t have money, or don’t need your service.
This would be a really easy way for anyone to help anyone.
It’s one of my weirder / most ill thought out ideas, but in the spirit of this awesome platform, I’m curious what you all think?
There's a marketing & digital nomad forum called Dynamite Circle that does so-called mastermind events where a small group of entrepreneurs helps each other out.
However, they are more focused on pure marketing (e.g. Dropshipling, Ebook sales) and less on actual products.
I believe the problem with strangers is that you don't necessary trust them. And the problem with real-life friends is that they typically won't be interested in business building like you. But ideally, you want to meet others running their own business in real life.
Oops I clicked post by accident on my phone when trying to find the link.
So the Dynamite Circle people converted their mastermind concept into a webapp:
https://triberr.com/tribes
You have your "Tribe" where everyone is expected to like / repost / share / etc eveything from everyone else.
They also have an offering where you pay for strangers to like / repost / share:
https://triberr.com/queue
The idea is that you queue your posts in advance so that your paid friends know when to login and like it.
I'd never heard of Triberr! Thanks for bringing them up – I'll never like the idea of buying friends and likes, but it's interesting to understand the difference (in reality) to the two ideas.
I suppose it is slightly blurred.
The more that the thread uncovers, the more I think of it like:
We all have cheerleaders we can rely on to support us, whether that be old colleagues, or friends from university, or family members. You've earned that relationship, and a lot of times – they want to help.
So it's not about finding new people to help you online, it's about making something out of your old relationships that you never did before. E.g.
OR
Anyway, as you can tell it's a work in progress, and I really appreciate your insights.
It's getting harder to even get feedback on IH (as this post shows)!
I kind of like the idea. A loong time ago, I had suggested organizing mastermind groups - usually 3-5 people who know each others struggles and commit to helping everyone succeed. I think there were about 10 people interested, and I never did anything with it.
I'd kind of given up on IH as a way to connect and get useful feedback, and a few months after that, found the San Diego IH group, which has been an incredible boost. We have a great core group of people, mixed backgrounds, and we really do help each other.
If you can make something like that for IHers without local groups, I think it'd be a huge hit (properly publicized), but I wouldn't count on it as a way to make money - we're a pretty low-budget bunch ;-)
I'd recommend starting simple. Maybe your app would work, maybe it'd need tools to communicate/discuss more generally (even just helping suggest stuff like slack, etc).
Thanks @AndrewV – great insights!
Love that you've found the value in that more localised group. I personally like the idea of small too (not that we have that in Oxford) – if nothing else – it's a great way to make more of the bigger platforms and gives you an added thing to feel connected over.
Perhaps this could be done by analysing platforms you enjoy, and matching you with people that have similar:
Anyway... I think you're right – I can't imagine it being a good way to make money either, but more a useful tool for the community.
Thanks for helping out!