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There was a similar APP for Facebook some time ago if I recall, although more passive. Seems like a great tool but how do you make sure the person suddenly being notified does not get creeped out or think its a phishing attempt?
@fatfullstacks That’s a good question. A possibility that I’m considering is to have the sender provide some information about the recipient that a phisher would not know. e.g. “Someone you met at Yale in 2007 has indicated that they would be interested …” But I’d be curious to hear any ideas you might have on how to make it more personal.
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@chrisdunaetz That would be too likely to give it away. Honestly the issue with phones numbers is that they are very personal, almost too much for this. I think this could work better via an email for example, or social media since it feels less intrusive in both cases. If it must be a text, perhaps let the person first chose if they want to play at all by texting back a number to mean yes/no? Maybe you can Tinderize all contacts and go from there? You do it once and then if any of them ever get the app and do it you can get a match? Its a tough dynamic to crack, but that's why it hasn't been done well yet.
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I'll be completely honest here:
1. If I received that anonymous text I'd be creeped+weirded out; optimistically, I think it's spam and I'm just annoyed. Not to mention that immediately after this invasion of privacy, I'm asked to check out "mutual-app.com"? 🙅
2. There's an idiom that this reminds me of, the clean version being "Don't foul your own nest."
3. What's the use case for this? If you're crushing on one of your contacts, why not ask them out like a normal person? You clearly have their number.
Sorry if this comes off as harsh, it's just frustrating to see people with good dev+design skills pour their time into 😐 concepts. I see a lot of apps on PH where the maker seemed to think "Why doesn't this exist yet?" But some apps don't exist for a reason, and recognizing that is an important part of product sense.
Minor design stuff:
- It kind of bugs me that the "Step N" part of the screenshots don't line up with each other.]
- Why does the logo have sparkles in the promo images but not in the app? You could've made it a @1x, @2x, @3x PNG.
- I like the font choice, it's nice and slabby.
@bryantpeng Personally I don't agree with you on all your points here.
1. I don't necessarily think this message looks creepy. If I haven't heard about the app, I'd be inclined to check it out at the link provided and then find out it's legit.
2. I don't quite understand what you mean.
3. Sometimes its hard asking out people you know, scared of possibly ruining the friendship - it's actually harder than asking someone you don't know. But for a lot of people even asking people you don't know is really hard, which is the reason for why casual dating apps exist and are really popular.
Just my thoughts :)
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@bryantpeng As far as the "why not just ask" aspect, a lot of people are too shy, like not Japanese Hikkimori SHY, but shy enough that just asking a friend out on a date it a challenge. So I can see the use here. But the problem is that it needs to be done in a way that doesn't creep people out. I think maybe hiding this into a game-ified poll of some sort might work better since it gives some value to the other person. BUT, if done right there is definitely an audience out there who would love it.
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@alekplay
Yeah, it's hard. That's life though. I'm a CS major and when I saw this I thought, "This is such a CS thing to do", i.e. trying to subsidize social skills with technology. But the reality is that some things actually can't be solved through apps.
In my mind, this is in the same ballpark as the middle school prance where you like someone & want to find out if they like you back so you do 1 of the following:
- Ask X's friends if s/he likes you back.
- Ask your friends to ask X if s/he likes you back.
- Ask your friends to ask X's friends if s/he likes you back.
The difference is that we're not in middle school anymore. Also - with dating apps, you have to create an account in order to receive creepy messages. Here, it can happen to anyone.
I get that it's hard to ask out a friend; I think we've all been there. But the scenario where you tick X's box, X gets a creepy text message saying "Someone likes you", X checks out the link, X downloads the app, X ticks your box, and you & X live happily ever after is way too contrived for me to believe that it will ever happen. You don't have to agree, but ask a few of your girl friends what they think of the intro text and get back to me.
@bryantpeng Hi Bryant, thanks for the feedback. I'm actually pretty impressed by how thorough your analysis is. It's helpful to see it from a different perspective.
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My stance on dating:
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The strapline really baffled me here. 'Anonymously find out which friends like you'. Surely if they don't like you... by definition they're not really friends?
@jasondainter Hi Jason, I see your point. Yes, I probably could have chosen a word that connoted a stronger romantic feeling. I will write this point down for future marketing efforts.
Mutual lets you select up to 15 friends from your phone’s contacts with whom you would like to go on a date. Mutual then sends them an anonymous text inviting them to create a list of their own. If the two of you are on each other's lists, you will both be notified.
Nothing is public and no one will even know you are using the app. (Unless the feeling turns out to be mutual.)
I hope this app can be of use to you guys, and please let me know if you have any questions. I would love to hear any feedback on how it can be made even better!
Keza
Mutual
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