Item — HN Reader

I've pretty much always had this problem when making niche social networks. Get 30-50 people sign up, it gets some very mild interaction in the first month (by typically only a few of the people who signed up), and then dies. (Maybe happened in 5-6 different groups over the years people have started.)

I've taken this to mean the individuals in the group just don't really need another social platform. But I do wonder if there is a better way to get small communities like this to engage so it is more spread out.

2 comments

That's slightly different from my experience, in which I built a niche social network for music explorers, but it also has bookmarking features.

I noticed a sustained usage from very few people (perhaps 10-20 users), even after a year.

So clearly there's some value other than the social aspect of the site. Not sure what to make of it though.

The way other platforms did it is by either being the first and getting rapid growth that way, or by being exclusive and building your appeal. Facebook did the latter - first Harvard only, then a couple more uni's, and by that time they had the critical mass to sustain a proper platform.