Show HN: Down – The easiest way to get together with friends
down.life
down.life
Unless you understand that particular vernacular this is a question as to why someone is upset/depressed. "Down" carries a lot of negative weight as a word; I'd consider a rename/rebrand. Of course it's perhaps trendy enough in a particular region/segment to overpower the negative association?
I don't see any differentiators in the page from a Facebook event listing; the "See who's down" could probably use some more info?
FWIW on app store page: s/show/shout, s/Beta/beta.
We chose the name Down because it's vernacular that we and a lot of our friends use really commonly. The first thing we think of when we hear the word "down" is that someone's excited to do something. It's possible that we're biased by who we hang out with though. Any ideas for a good name if we were to rebrand?
We kind of think of Down as a light-weight, mobile-optimized Facebook Events.
You can use Down for large, Facebook Events-size events. But you can also use Down to invite a friend to lunch. Or a few friends over to watch a movie. Those aren't really things you'd use Facebook Events for.
Down's also mobile optimized in that you can have a group chat with everyone who's invited. I think it's the fastest, easiest way to invite people to do something.
To continue the direction trend, Up
'u up 4 avengers?' works just as well in the vernacular as 'u down 4 avengers?' and is 50% as heavy to type (err, 'more optimized for mobile')
Sup would work, Yo's already been taken. Come Hang, Hangouts is already taken...
Did you do any market research - perhaps ask people in the right demographic to write a tweet/text [ie SMS message] as if to invite you to an informal impromptu event and take your inspiration from there.
"Happening"? is all I got right now.
That bit you said about what Down does better - why isn't that on your landing page?
tl;dr sorry I don't really have any ideas what's better - if it resonates well with you then perhaps you're best to stick with it.
Will keep it installed for a bit and see if anyone is "down to try it"
There are definitely plans for an Android app, that's one of the first next things we will work on as we gain users.
Currently, the app text messages people who don't have it installed, including android and winphone users -- basically the same thing GroupMe does.
:) thanks for checking it out, keep the feedback coming!
Once you send out invites, everyone you invited becomes part of a group chat about the event.
@andrewlinfoot put it really well - "We created Down because we want to make getting together with your friends as easy as checking Facebook. We find all of our best memories come from hanging out with our friends in real life, not sitting around scrolling through feeds on our phones. We think existing social apps are great, but they focus too much on replacing our lives with digital equivalents, and don’t do enough to encourage actually getting together with friends."
But still there are too many social networks. I hope yours replace all others.