• @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    151 year ago

    I think it was definitely the super long beta period where you needed an invite killed it. I knew a ton of people who were interested that gave up

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      101 year ago

      That’s easy to say now, but Orkut (another Google social network, mostly used in Brazil) also had a beta invite system… And that helped it grow tremendously. The secrecy and “status” of getting invited made people go wild - they would even sell invites.

      The strategy can work. It’s just very timing sensitive.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        71 year ago

        Orkut was young when Facebook access was still restricted to college kids only. Google+ was dumb. You’d get and then it was just tumble weeds.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        51 year ago

        I’m not sure if I’m mis-remembering, but I believe my first Gmail account was by invitation. It was pretty much just an email account back then

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          31 year ago

          Correct, I got my account invite from The Screensavers show with Kevin Rose. They were giving them out randomly to viewers.

    • Jeze3D
      link
      fedilink
      21 year ago

      Reminds me of Bluesky which is also in a permanent beta.