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Ask HN: Examples of how social network startups acquired early users?

1 points by faizshah ↗ HN
Hi HN,

Does anyone know of any articles or stories on how social media sites like SoundCloud, instagram, etc. acquire users in their first year?

4 comments

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sharemywin
from this article instagram started out as called Burbn as checkin app, which was inspired by his taste for fine whiskeys and bourbons.

with a photo feature.

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/102615/story...

I think a lot of it is right time right place and a micro niche.

ksaj
This is the kind of history we should strive to remember. Especially if your own startup or project seems insignificant at first. A lot of things we take for granted come from humble beginnings. This is such a good example.
jneumann004
I don't have an article, just real life experience. Wheb Facebook started to get book it was exclusive to people with college email addresses. This was great, because it meant not having to deal with the sheer amount of people on MySpace and feeling like you joined an exclusive club that your parents or high schoolers couldn't join.
faizshah
Thanks, this is pretty helpful!

Would you happen to remember any details on the first 1-100 users strategy? Where did FB get that initial traction from that took it from someone's side project to something a few 100 people on campus were using.

Was there a strategy to get users to engage on the site as well to make it more attractive initially? For example, I read that reddit seeded the initial website with fake users and articles to appear active.

I also read pinterest pursued an invitation only strategy early on and I believe clubhouse recently repeated this sort of strategy through the music industry (not sure how they acquired the initial users).