[mansigandhi]

1. We had created those more as a way to create awareness - but you're right...by leaving out the what/why made the eyeball conversions really low. Big mistake on our part!

5. As you've both (thejteam and you) rightly pointed out - our need fulfillment doesn't come across and this could be possibly be the biggest reason.

(Yes, we're tracking all activity including email). I'm adding what Shoutt does and how it is useful to the question now.

[project23]

I'm on the site, and I don't see the reason why I want to engage. Can you give me your elevator pitch?

[mansigandhi]

I just added it to the question itself. Copy pasted here:

Shoutt is a location-based app. It is a platform to share information with those around you. We're bringing the act of shoutting to the phone - when you shout only the people around you can hear you. This works as a great way to share information with students around you and thus helps connect hyperlocal communities. It can be used to connect places as small as a dorm or a department to as large as the entire campus/city - the distance is decided by the shoutter. Also, unlike other networks there are no friends or followers and is focused primarily on the shared information.

Shoutt can be applied to a wide range of scenarios -- Announcements (events, publicize, news), Collaboration (homework, study groups, hobbies), Marketplace (buy/sell, recruiting for orgs, help), Random chatter (updates, celebrating Cardinal victories) and Asks (ride shares, Freshmen questions).

[project23]

I think I've encountered a similar app in the past that was working with Twitter API to do something similar (don't even remember who they are). Irrelevant to the point anyway.

Anyway, here's my initial thoughts and PLEASE take it with a massive grain of salt as I don't speak for everyone else...

This idea seems way more appealing to businesses than it would to users i.e. I need to hire a ton of Stanford students, announce job posts, etc... When I was in college, the marketplace argument sounds great in theory but eBay, half.com, and craigslist are not too far away (plus rentals online now that removes reselling problems). If I want to resell, I want to get mass market reach, not just local (whatever is best).

I can also see this as a potential app that rings up too much spam, too many announcements (shouts). I can't find an immediate need for why I would want to make announcements so often and more so, I can't find a reason why I would engage in the app frequently because of such. I can see some power users that may want to do so (for things you've listed), but on a whole, I can't speak for others but I don't see a strong compelling reason why I would want to "shout" anything generally. Particularly to such a niche demographic (unless again, I was a business or something similar in nature where I have a reason to pitch to users, but this doesn't provide a good reason for why users would want to engage).

On the surface, I don't seem to have a problem this app is trying to create a solution for, and there is no strong compelling reason on why (even after the pitch) I would want to use it or continue to engage frequently enough (daily active).

[mansigandhi]

Honest feedback is really appreciated (and wanted) so I'm really glad you replied with that.

We have taken some of those into account - 1) shoutts get categorized into channels (#AskStanford, #gocard, #CS106A etc) and that is one way of making it organized and not overbearing to a user, almost like subreddits 2) when a user opens it at any location, say a gym, they know instantaneously what's popular around there and at that time - the primary reason to use it daily or at least often.

Given that, the above are still just assumptions made by us that will get validated/in-validated soon enough. Again, I really appreciate the feedback it was really helpful.