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Launching TODAY (with one humble product)

23 points by benjaminlotan ↗ HN
Today I am launching my first website http://Printingfacebook.com in conjunction with "The Social Network" movie release. Though I am working on several printed products that use data from social networks and blogging platforms, I decided to make a unique url for this single product and test the water a bit. The product is a "friend poster" made up of all your friends' profile pictures.

I would love to get some feedback on the idea, and on the implementation.

Also if anyone has any insight on getting some press or getting covered on various blogs, please impart your wisdom. I'm pretty new to this. Which blogs should I reach out to and what angle of the site is most compelling. I made the site to try to offset the costs of my graduate program.

thanks! and enjoy the "trailer" video. It's a spoof off of the social network theatrical trailer.

Benjamin Lotan

34 comments

[ 243 ms ] story [ 246 ms ] thread
buster
Looks like a neat idea, atually i'd buy one... but US only :( Good luck with your project!
benjaminlotan
yeah, Shipping internationally seems like a whole new set of complications, maybe sometime in the future. Thanks for the encouragement. It feels great to get yours as the first comment. :-)
gregpilling
It is not that complicated, and Paypal will let you print mailing labels directly. All you need to know is the HS Tariff code for your product and get some free plastic envelopes from the post office. I just checked a 8oz tube to Australia via USPS and it was $7.32. If you added a $10 international charge, that would cover any extra work or shipping. I ship products globally every week and it is very easy once you spend 10 minutes learning what needs to be done.

Also, you state that you are only mailing it to the 48 contiguous states. The USPS doesn't charge extra for Hawaii or Alaska (or military bases) so why would you exclude them?

benjaminlotan
my shipping policy actually has to do with the printer i am working with, he only ships to the lower 48. That said, this is powerful input. My plan is that if i start getting enough orders and interest from abroad i will be able to convince the printer to ship international. Thanks for providing the info, I really appreciate it.
hgarg
Neat idea. best place to promote is on facebook.
illdave
I think that's a genuinely awesome idea - and I totally agree with hgarg, consider using Facebook ads to test the water. Apparantly you can get a free $50 coupon with new accounts http://www.netpaths.net/blog/50-facebook-coupon-advertising-... (although I've not seen that, I don't remember getting one when I signed up - I could easily be wrong).
sandeepshetty
Most registrars give you a $50 facebook coupon when you buy a domain name.
ritonlajoie
Ads on FB are most of the time reviewed by humans. This means his website may have some problems due to it's domain name. I would test ads on AdSense instead of FB first.
benjaminlotan
good call. If i plan on using ads on facebook i wont use the term printingfacebook... thanks!
chrisdes
Can't order as a non-US but some suggestions. Please check the default options so user can go through first step in one click. IMO Small margin, White background can be the default options. Great idea though. Looking forward for other products.
chrisdes
Also please make it clear with a badge or something on the home page that you can ship only to US currently. It is not clear until user clicks a (small) 'details' link on the "Your Order details" step.
benjaminlotan
good idea, i'll figure out a way to make that clear earlier on in the process.
carlos
I think the idea is great and site looks very nice. Only problem I see is the name "printingfacebook.com" as it may cause some branding issues with facebook.
benjaminlotan
thanks!, in terms of the branding issues w/ facebook, i could see that, but if i ever got big enough to have problems... i think i would be happy. I guess i chose the name for SEO, but when i start offering print services for other networks, i'll rebrand under a more unique name.
vijayr
if printingfb.com is available, you could use that.

How do you handle printing? by yourself or is there a company that provides such printing services?

metachris
Thanks for sharing your idea about alternative domain names, but I think a public comment is not the best way to do that.

Someone else might grab it before the author can -- therefore please suggest domain names directly to the respective author via email. (I know benjamins email is not in his profile/website, but a whois reveals it).

jasonlotito
I just registered printingfb.com to save it, just in case. Benjamin, you can go ahead and contact me at the email address in my profile, and I'll transfer the domain over to you free of charge.

BTW, awesome idea.

uptown
Neat idea ... but I'd be amazed if you don't get a trademark infringement letter from Facebook. You just can't use their logo as part of your own.
thenduks
It's a great idea but I would expect a letter from Facebook's lawyers regarding the use of the name 'Facebook' in your product (you use the API, so that's against their terms of use) and the use of their logo in your logo. Good luck!
lubos
I think that's actually the point. when evil big company threatens to destroy little guy, it always makes great headlines regardless who is right and before you blink, he will be selling thousands of posters a day.
gregpilling
Since you are likley to get a C&D, I would prepare with an alternate domain name and a list of bloggers who are anti-facebook. Calcanis comes to mind. Send out a press release about the C&D, how FB is trying to control users images, and all the privacy/control of content issues. Once the media storm has whipped itself into a frenzy, then announce the new website name and redirect the original.
thenduks
I guess you're getting downvoted because of the 'ethically questionable' suggestions you're making. Strictly in terms of making profit, I think you're spot on.
benjaminlotan
good call! do you know about putting out a press release? also let me know if you think of any more anti-facebook blogs. Thanks for the input :)
fname
Good luck! I can't find the recent discussion around a C&D someone got because they had the word book in their URL. So I might be a little worried if I were you about using "facebook" in your URL.
johnconroy
whoa... nice angle. I wouldn't buy it myself, but it seems plausible that lots of people would.

One thing: consider slightly different angles on this. For instance, a mosaic of all photos in which a person is tagged. And/or in which their friends are tagged. Furthermore, you could break this down into years, such that a person could have one poster for 2010, buy another one next year for 2011, etc. etc.

Also, think about the corporate angle here: I'm sure corporations would live this kind of thing... visual represenatations of the community who connect with them on FB. Hopefully you could sell premium versions to corporations to hang in their foyers: larger, better quality finish, whatever (you'd know better than I). Good luck :D

benjaminlotan
great ideas, thanks for the feedback :-) The next product i'm working on is a yearbook style book of friends with names underneath photos and (similar to what you mentioned) the ability to choose a few of your friends, and print a poster of the photos you are tagged in together... targeting corporations, or even small businesses seems a bit difficult, but its good to think of this angle.
dhoe
I like the idea. pic5 has red eyes, I'd change that - it's a bit too close to the text about the artist with great attention to detail.
benjaminlotan
I love this comment in particular. A) my girl friend has been telling me the same thing. B) Relates to me as an artist and brings up all these aesthetic questions, about the audience vs. artist autonomy etc etc. already this project has been interesting in terms of revealing myself as an 'entrepreneur' to some artist friends... (the idea of selling out etc) .... that said. I didnt have a good camera on me, and wanted to get the site up ASAP... I'll be reshooting soon with an SLR and my other artist friend... who is actually a photographer and not a performance artist like me. :-) thanks for the comment. cheers.
tsycho
Great idea, I might buy a poster as a gift :)

But, as mentioned by others, save yourself from legal hassles and change your domain name - PrintingFB, PrintYourFriends, FriendsOnPaper..... and all of these are available

logicb
It's a cool idea.. I like it too!