A reading list for friends. Good or bad idea?

Question

Hi guys! 

I am working on a new product idea and I would love to hear your thoughts. I figured people send each other interesting articles but they get lost on Whatsapp and people forget to actually read them. 

I validated this problem with multiple interviews and now designed a first prototype which I am testing with a landing page (zuster.me). 

The idea: I can save interesting articles to read later (ala Pocket) but also share great ones with my very close friends so they don't forget to read them.

My idea of validating the solution is to get ad-traffic on my landing page and test whether users would download the app.

Do you have thoughts on the idea or the methodology? Much appreciated! 

Have a great Tuesday! 

Fabian

Abadesi · Accepted Answer

@fabian_kutschera I like the problem here but I wonder why would it be better to use a product instead of sharing a link by an existing messaging service?

Dayal · Answer

@fabian_kutschera I suggest you to spend your time wisely!

Darko Kolev · Answer

@fabian_kutschera Hey that sounds interesting.
Do you plan these to be shared one to one or one to many.
For example me and 4 of my friends all share stuff in one place.

One step further would be to have themed groups like Startups or Marketing and people can browse through them. But with these kinds of community driven groups it's difficult to avoid the spam, everyone will share their own articles and videos.

Fabian Kutschera · Answer

@dayaldave in a way that you think the general idea is off, or to prioritize smartly within the idea :)?

Fabian Kutschera · Answer

@chinozc Thank you for the feedback! There is a sign up option on the www.zuster.me landing page, if you want to get updated once in a while.

Fabian Kutschera · Answer

@abadesi super good question, I do/did have the same concern. People in user interviews all stated that they have the problem that they forget to read something they received on whatsapp (or other) but at the same time find it very easy to share an article with others through this channel... 
Hence, it's more an indirect benefit for you as a sender that your friends will also use the service in the future to send something to you. Thanks for your thoughts!

chinozc · Answer

@fabian_kutschera what a great idea. WhatsApp it works well but I cannot put any articles on a reading list. What I’m doing right now is using slack and posting it o a channel that I created with the name of #must_read #Tools etc and the persons I want to share it. It il be a great tool for me you’re app. Keep me

Fabian Kutschera · Answer

Hi @darkokolev, thanks for your thoughts! 
I had planned it to keep it on a personal level, not a group level to be honest. Mainly for the same reasons you gave: The moment you go beyond close friends, you need moderators and voting mechanisms, essentially like on reddit, hacker news or also here on producthunt. Therefore I wanted to focus on close friends, since a product for this is somehow missing in my opinion and Whatsapp and other messaging tools work semi-well for sharing & reading.

But I do like your idea of having at least small groups like you suggested with 4 friends... How do you currently share great articles with those friends?

A reading list for friends. Good or bad idea?

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