Do you think SN should have a proper GROWTH plan? \ stacker news ~meta

Do you think SN should have a proper GROWTH plan?

1677 sats \ 30 comments \ @deyner1984 9 Feb meta

Been here for a while and have been following some postings HERE and HERE dealing about the GROWTH of SN. Must say i am really impressed with Stacker News Community, the variety of topics covered here, the community strength and synergy and even with THIS good data about yesterday´s prize pool which makes me question myself:

Why aren't more people joining here every day?

My guess is that SN Team does not have a proper marketing or growth plan, maybe because initially this tool was not build to go beyond Bitcoiners arena but it turned out to be a place where people with ZERO BTC or Lightning knowledge can enjoy some quality time and even zap some nice SATS while doing so.

As a Growth and Community Manager i would like to hear some thoughts here about the initial question posted in title.

P.S: My answer to the pool is YES btw ;)

YES, NEEDED!47.1%

SOMEHOW NEEDED23.5%

NO NEEDED AT ALL29.4%

17 votes \ poll ended

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199 sats \ 3 replies \ @kr 9 Feb

@grayruby asked for a similar document outlining growth strategies, working on it now

102 sats \ 2 replies \ @deyner1984 OP 9 Feb

Good to know! As Growth and Community Manager i´ve always tried to put my focus in such aspects when interacting (joining) new projects out there. SN is one of the best ones for sure ...it only needs more "words outside" than "devs inside" at this stage i guess.

P.S: do not take me wrong please @kr, for me both, dev work and growth plans, should go hand by hand all the time. Anything i can help just ask.

99 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr 9 Feb

Thanks for sharing, you’re right that SN does need to reach outside of the community of Bitcoiners to continue growing.

Have you had a chance to test out the SN referral program? Curious to hear your thoughts.

https://stacker.news/faq#how-does-the-stacker-news-referral-program-work

33 sats \ 0 replies \ @deyner1984 OP 9 Feb

Will give it a deep look for sure. Waiting night time here to get rid of kids and enjoy (and analyse) the reading with a nice cup of tea! :)

170 sats \ 4 replies \ @OriginalSize 9 Feb

You're either growing or dying, so yes. I'd prioritize growing value in the experiences rather than user numbers directly.

609 sats \ 0 replies \ @k00b 9 Feb

For communities, number of member and the experience value are related somewhat but I hear you.

510 sats \ 2 replies \ @deyner1984 OP 9 Feb

You can grow in many aspects and i somehow agree with you here; but i really think that if you have a nice product in hands, numbers matter after all. While you can keep the experience value for active user base at top you still need to improve general numbers to wide reach and bring more people to join and use your product/tool.

240 sats \ 1 reply \ @mallardshead 9 Feb

Grow the lightning network itself must. Heavy lifting will it do. Innovation happening slower than master @Deyner1984 has patience I see.

50 sats \ 0 replies \ @deyner1984 OP 10 Feb

Hahaha! I am a patient guy. Problem is some people have taken the poll as something that MUST BE DONE instead of something that COULD BE DONE. SN Team already said they´re working on a growing plan. Let´s wait and see. For now seems like there are more people thinking that SN deserves to grow (with a "proper" plan) than others that do not want this.

85 sats \ 0 replies \ @037447d9ca 9 Feb

On the contrary: SN should seek to dissolve itself long-term and mutate into a decentralized form.

10 sats \ 3 replies \ @plebpoet 9 Feb

what does "proper" mean?

99 sats \ 0 replies \ @k00b 9 Feb

I've taken it to mean "I know what it is, understand it, and agree with it."

99 sats \ 1 reply \ @deyner1984 OP 9 Feb

Growth...it is a super wide concept you can take or interprete in many ways here. I´m devoted to Web3 spaces so from my POV there are many aspects you can apply there that can also be applied here like growth strategies:

(DEV+UI+UX) Why not having separated or dedicated spaces for international communities like different language lounges?

(DEV+UI+UX) Why not translating SN to other wide used languages like Spanish? (i am a native spanish speaker btw)

(SOCIAL) Quality posting on a daily basis in Twitter could improve the reach of SN and bring more people to join

...and many more.

"Proper" is something i think could be a fit applied here from my very own POV as Growth guy but you, from your very own POV could not see as a nice choice to go for.

Growing is not only opening a Telegram chat and pay some weird guy to run a bot and bring 10K vultures that do not care about you or what you do (this is also growth btw...i do not like it, but usually done to improve numbers for investors ;) ). Properly growing is to identify actions that could help you get more visibility, bring more users and turn your product into something viable, usable and widely known for EVERYONE

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @plebpoet 9 Feb

just stating what I think you're saying, in your job as a growth guy, sometimes you do things that you do not like, this telegram bot thing that you mention. why do you do things you don't like?

63 sats \ 3 replies \ @joda 9 Feb

SN has already grown way past being "Bit Devs online" and in some ways to its detriment. I don't think a lot of devs hang out here, or even people interested in dev, because it's become more than that.

In a way it's organic and beautiful, but it feels in some ways like an atheist meetup-- "there isn't much debate to be done in the thing we agree on, so let's talk about football."

Dev chat is Twitter and other platforms, and sorta might maybe migrate to Nostr, but it doesn't seem to be coming here.

So I think going too far out of scope ends up trying to compete with Twitter and Reddit. And if your argument is "we've got good vibes and zaps!" -- well then you're competing with nostr.

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @deyner1984 OP 9 Feb

Growing the user base is an inherent part of any product/tool/app/startup/project out there be it linked to crypto or not, that´s my humble opinion.

I see almost no point into crafting an awesome tool like this one and keep it reserved only for BTCLN users or devs.

Example: territories.... here you have Cannabis, History, BooksandArticles, Sports, Music and many others not related to BTC in any way. Is there any chance a shitcoiner onboarding here could add some valuable content to any of those territories? I think yes...the fact that the guy is a shitcoiner does not means he or she cannot add value to SN.

As you said, SN has developed itself to become something more...so, as i can see it, growing is the next step. Devs can still preserve its own space while others can enjoy other spaces and still add value to the platform.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @joda 9 Feb

While I agree to some extent, I think you're then competing with Reddit and Twitter, which have enormous network effects (there are several million people in Reddit subs for those categories you listed). SN could be a cool way for noobs to play with zapping; maybe that's the benefit.

If, for example, I wanted to know what is the "best underrated music album of the 70s?"-- I would ask Reddit and get a million people seeing the post and thousands responding. If I asked that same question here, what I would be asking is really "What do hardcore bitcoiners think is the most underrated album of the 70s?"

Nothing wrong with that inherently.

I'm not opposed to the growth per se, but I'm already seeing some suspicious posts (possibly bots or trolls) on here. Trying to scale unnaturally will probably bring more of that.

Anyway, good luck with the endeavour!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @deyner1984 OP 10 Feb

It´s just a poll. I am not part of the Team and have no decision power. I just want to measure what Growth Managers measure: from current user base, how many think A or B?

There is no way to compete against Twitter or Reddit right now i know but nothing can´t stop SN to become bigger while keeping quality...that´s the point.

60 sats \ 1 reply \ @grayruby 9 Feb

Yes, and as a growth and community manger would you be interested in doing a post with some of your suggestions?

I am sure it will get a lot of zaps.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @deyner1984 OP 9 Feb

Probably will do it. It´s not my intention here to dictate what SN Team should do and what to do. I just want to know what other people think about my original question...that´s all.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @mallardshead 9 Feb

deleted by author

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @030e0dca83 9 Feb

Steadily than sudden. I think we need more qualities topict people will come to read from search engines and stay here forever. stackerNews is love from first visit

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @deyner1984 OP 9 Feb

You mean "territories"? I agree. While the existing ones i think should be kept, new ones may arise and be promoted better, starting by its owners.

"Territories" have a whole thread somewhere here in SN. Ppl are complaining about prices to hold the right to manage one of these. It´s off-topic and beyond this thread but i guess that, as part of the growth plan and also as part of the financials the "territories" point should be re-thinked yes.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @030e0dca83 10 Feb

I mean, if we have ~health territory it should contain quality unic articles people will search. Today in most cases we have links or copypasta. The more specialists will live on stackerNews the more popular it'll be

0 sats \ 5 replies \ @Undisciplined 9 Feb

"proper" is doing a lot of work in your question.

27 sats \ 4 replies \ @deyner1984 OP 9 Feb

Simple! #418920

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @Undisciplined 9 Feb

Just a joke, this is a good conversation that needs to be had.

270 sats \ 2 replies \ @deyner1984 OP 9 Feb

Ha! Sure! Always wondered why lots of good apps and tools do not think on growth planning as key to a wider adoption. Sometimes it cost a lot to deliver a "proper" :) plan and even more to execute it but i think the more awesome the tool is the less efforts on growth...the right way! ;)

For me the first step here could be open our minds and go beyond the Bitcoiners field and try to "show what we have" to others ...less maximalists but eager to discover and enjoy tools like this one. Twitter is a nice place to achieve this and that´s the right place to start pushing for more visibility.

Partnerships are another good venue to both: improve your tool + get more people onboard. BTCLN tools are not well known for closing partnerships with others in the same field and even less outside Lightning arena for example.

266 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined 9 Feb

Many of us are skeptical of aiming for massive growth, like what might happen with a major publicity campaign on Twitter. We have a pretty well curated community and don't want to rock the boat too much. My preference is for outreach to be highly selective and target the kinds of people who will be value adds to SN.

Of course, I'm not in charge and everyone can do whatever they want.

270 sats \ 0 replies \ @deyner1984 OP 9 Feb

I get your point: quality over quantity. For me a growing process should have 3 steps: acquisition, education and loyalty.

With acquisition you can focus into spreading the word as much as you can and bring lots of users from everywhere, maximalists, shitcoiners, etc to join and try the platform.

With education you must focus on make the acquired users to understand you and your goals, what your product is (in depth), what they can do, what they can earn, why is the tool suitable for their needs, secret tips on hidden and less known features your platform has, what sets your product apart from closest competitors, etc, and a loooong etc.

With loyalty then you prove your educated users´ patience to see if they can prove valuable to you as much as you are valuable to them.

If you can keep 10% (ex. 5K users from 50K initial acquired users) without spending way beyond the funds you allocated for a given campaign i´d say is a win after all.

Each platform should have it´s goals and i think SN should define its own growth plan focusing in such goals (if defined ofc).