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author | Drew DeVault <sir@cmpwn.com> | 2013-09-08 19:03:48 -0600 |
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committer | Drew DeVault <sir@cmpwn.com> | 2013-09-08 19:03:48 -0600 |
commit | 5cf89549e30e6cea3ccb423b73ac56a2f666adc1 (patch) | |
tree | 0dc3251d8d6df5266317bcc5f65a9e460cea782b | |
parent | b278aa236487c03213ad8c7a98779089820b95e8 (diff) |
Add mediacrush blog post
-rw-r--r-- | _posts/2013-09-08-MediaCrush-post-mortem.md | 96 | ||||
-rw-r--r-- | css/base.css | 5 | ||||
-rw-r--r-- | img/mediacrush.svg | 63 |
3 files changed, 164 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/_posts/2013-09-08-MediaCrush-post-mortem.md b/_posts/2013-09-08-MediaCrush-post-mortem.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c4918a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2013-09-08-MediaCrush-post-mortem.md @@ -0,0 +1,96 @@ +--- +title: MediaCrush Post-Mortem +layout: post +thumbnail: /img/mediacrush.svg +--- + +About two months ago, I approached my friend jdiez over IRC with a proposition. + + <SirCmpwn> I'm thinking of making a website for hosting gifs + <SirCmpwn> but when you upload a gif, it converts it to ogv and renders it with HTML5 video + <SirCmpwn> faster load time + better quality + <jdiez> hmmmm + <jdiez> sounds like a great idea + <SirCmpwn> I bought gifquick.com + <SirCmpwn> .net + <jdiez> not one of your best names + <SirCmpwn> you're a name + <jdiez> I have one + +After someone suggested a less silly name (and a little programming on the side), [MediaCrush](https://mediacru.sh) +was born. If you missed it, it's a website for hosting media (images, video, audio, vectors). Privacy first, +open-source, lots of [other things](https://blog.mediacru.sh/2013/07/19/MediaCrush-for-nerds.html) the +tech-literate like. This is the first project I've tried to promote properly, and one of my more intersting +collaborations. So here's how it went: + +<img src="https://mediacru.sh/5j-W2R6dlPh-.png" /> + +## Hacker News + +By far the most succesful way to promote MediaCrush was on [Hacker News](http://news.ycombinator.com). I +submitted "[Show HN: An open-source media hosting site that's anonymous and fast](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6189397)", +and got lots of good feedback and generated a lot of excitement. Thanks to those who saw and contributed to +that thread. This one, I think, was a success because the readers of Hacker News almost univerally fall into +our target audience, and they're mostly smart folks who are able to give an informed opinion on the site. They +can also see the benefits of our sort of service compared to the competetion. + +Result: Positive + +## Casual Conversation + +As a project I was invested in and that I think is pretty cool, I naturally started chatting about it around +the web (mostly in IRC). Lots of people liked it, and the MediaCrush IRC channel still has a fair number of +regulars. This had mixed reactions, from apathy to supportiveness. This is harder to remember since these +interactions are buried deep somewhere in my thousands of IRC logs. I don't think it made us many long-term +users, but we got some good feedback. + +Result: Positiveish + +## /g/ + +We didn't mean to promote it on /g/, but someone (not related to us) posted about it there and we saw it in +our referers. I dropped by and answered a couple questions. 4chan generally liked it, and was impressed by +the tech. There were rumors of getting support in a popular 4chan browser extension, but I don't know where +that went. Word of mouth is always the best means of promotion, and that seemed to be the case with 4chan. +Can't say we got a lot of actionable feedback from them, though. + +Result: Positive + +## Reddit + +Our attempt at getting the Reddit users involved was basically a complete failure. MediaCrush links are now +banned from Reddit (though the admins said they'd lift the ban a week ago - situation still developing). We +posted about it in a few places and answered lots of questions. Additionally, we made a bot that users could +summon to a thread to rehost media for them (usually good for gifs, since we get +[crazy good results](https://mediacru.sh/demo) when we host gifs). The Reddit admins told us to stop spamming. +Additionally, when we tried to work with some subreddit moderators (like /r/gifs), we were shot down and the +moderation of several subreddits did not want to support MediaCrush. + +However, the response from the users was generally positive, both from the +[technically savvy](http://redd.it/1k4v7h) and the +[general public](http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1k3uro/xbox_one_handy_guide_for_early_adopters/cbl4rrl?context=3). +We also bought a Reddit ad for a hundred bucks (which buys you fairly low exposure). Unfortunately, the ad was +run *after* the domain was banned, which defeated the purpose. You can upvote some ads, and ours got +more upvotes than downvotes, which is unusual for a Reddit ad. + +At the end of the day, though, our biggest target userbase is unable to use MediaCrush and I consider that a +crushing defeat for the site. + +Result: Failure + +## Conclusion + +That's about all the promotion we ended up doing. I am afraid that MediaCrush will fail as a result of +hostility from Reddit. Lessons learned; + +* Hacker News is still a great resource to get good feedback on cool stuff you're working on. +* Though I wouldn't expect *every* 4chan board to be worth it, we seemed to get a good response from /g/. +* Be *very careful* with Reddit. There's a fine line between showing off something cool you did, and + spamming. We still aren't sure exactly where that line lies, but we certainly went over it. + +The graph at the top of this post says it all. So far, the site has cost me +[about $750](https://mediacru.sh/transparency/2013-09-01-Financial-summary.md), which is not as bad as it +could have been. I hope to keep it alive for as long as possible. I don't want to let down the users who +have been supportive of us, and I don't want existing media vanishing from the web. + +Keep in touch, we'll see how my next big project goes. diff --git a/css/base.css b/css/base.css index a833aa9..79995bd 100644 --- a/css/base.css +++ b/css/base.css @@ -33,3 +33,8 @@ pre { font-size: 14pt; margin: 0; } + +.media-object { + width: 64px; + height: 64px; +} diff --git a/img/mediacrush.svg b/img/mediacrush.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8dcd634 --- /dev/null +++ b/img/mediacrush.svg @@ -0,0 +1,63 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?> +<!-- Generator: Adobe Illustrator 16.0.0, SVG Export Plug-In . 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