Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Sharing Your Sign-up (or Twaring Your Twign-up, Even)


Here is a novel UI pattern. I was investigating a new Twitter-related service called Twournal* yesterday. I was applying for a beta invite to see how it worked. The ‘Request An Invite Code’ button did not take me to a page requesting the usual level of authentication (typically an email, a Twitter login or a Facebook login). Rather, to request this particular invitation, the process required me to activate the above viral tweet that would let all of my followers know that I was making the application.



I can see the organisational logic of how this would quickly propagate initial awareness of a new service. But I wonder how much this practice also serves as a potential retarding agent on adoption rates.

What do you think? Would having to tweet your sign-ups when testing new services like this make you less likely to proceed further? (Irrespective of how likely the name of said notional service is going to get you needled by your friends. You know who you are.)


‘Twournal.’ Ouch! That is the best name that they could come up with? Really? Its a name that epitomises the convention skewered so well in the recent Twitter Movie parody video: “I’m drinking twhiskey.”

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