How I Got My First 1000 Users in 1 Day

Great Article, thank you for sharing. It's interesting to follow a Product Launch and see what works / what doesn't work. I like how you've integrated a specific UX into the Product. Right now the Signup is probably one of the most important aspects to focus on (as you onboard Users). Choosing to skip E-mails (and E-mail verification) for a faster signup lowers the entry point barrier and makes the UX more enjoyable. This is something I'm currently working on with my App (the initial Signup Process). I've performed some customer validation and the results were in line with my assumptions. The preferred experience seems to be minimal time investment, and minimal effort. Following this train of thought, here are few basic options:

1. User manually inputs an E-mail Address and Password (commonly w/ E-mail Verification) 2. User manually inputs a Username/Password (less to type, no Verification needed) 3. User taps twice and uses Social Media Integration (example, Facebook Login)

Of course each of these has Pro's and Cons. I will follow Popcorn and see how it works with the second option. I'm leaning towards the third option (minimal time investment), but I'm concerned about perceptions of the associated Social Network(s) and how that might impact the User's desire to create an account. For example, if a certain Network is "not cool" with the younger generation, and you present the "not cool" Network as the Logon method, would that make the App also "not cool"?

I've learned Facebook and LinkedIn can produce really disappointing results.

Over the last couple of weeks we've been pushing hard to develop awareness for a worthy cause (special needs education tools). Details here:

http://www.tommyteaches.com/special-education.php

(Yes, taking the opportunity to also get a little attention on HN. Sorry, this is important.)

Analytics tells us that LinkedIn, in particular didn't have good engagement. A few strategic posts on CraigsList probably did ten times better LinkedIn.

The best results we got have been due to friends, family, neighbors and local teachers making a push to reach to their immediate connections (their friends, family and co-workers) to have them engage. Also some blogs produced results here and there.

In general terms building an audience for just about anything on the internet is really hard these days. Luck can be a factor, but more and more it seems to require a lot of hard work and "street smarts". For example, I contacted every host at a local TV station with slightly different versions of the same story in order to see if anyone would be interested. Call it A/B testing. One was, and that helped a bit (just a bit).

Good luck with your app. It looks interesting.

To get more users, have you tried approaching bloggers in different niches with different article ideas? The use cases for your app are different for different sets of people. Just write a one paragraph abstract about your app and email bloggers and editors to see if they'll cover your just released app.

Some headline and abstract ideas when you approach bloggers:

1) Tech/Business -- Popcorn: The hot new app to network at tech conferences

2) Student Websites/Newspapers -- The messaging app you need when a zombie apocalypse happens at SDSU (insert campus here)

3) Dating Blogs -- The newest app for singles: Popcorn lets you chat with others in high density bar areas

4) General -- When disasters strike, Popcorn lets you talk to others in your vicinity

5) Social media bloggers -- What are young teens using if not Facebook? Apps like Popcorn: hyper-local and addictive

6) Music -- Perfect for Coachella and SXSW: Popcorn lets you chat with others at music festivals

7) City Websites/Local -- New app "Popcorn" lets neighbors stay connected on what's happening on the block

8) Gaming -- Popcorn, the app you need to coordinate your next LAN party

If you get a bunch of these articles and blog posts up in the next week or two, it can help push that 1,000 number up higher.

Nice post and always exciting to get a good start going. What I'm really interested in is the geographical dispersion of those 1,000 users (and however many you have now), how many conversations where actually formed, and the retention. I guess people fire up an app just after installing it, wanting to take it for a spin, and if they can't form even one conversation since nobody's around them, it would greatly affect retention.

An interesting metric would be 'conversations per day' and if technically possible 'potential conversations per day', that is to say how many pairs of people with the app running where in 1 mile proximity to one another.

Also, it would be interesting to see whether users take the conversation elsewhere (facebook, twitter, whatsapp), at what stage (as one is leaving the location or before that), and if they do - how does it affect their app usage. Does it make them use the app more (for example, to seek more connections and friends now that they see it's effective for meeting new people), or less (they took the conversation elsewhere and their social needs were met for now).

Just my $0.02. Hope to see an Android version soon to test if myself! Good luck!

Please add push notifications?

If you log in, and no one is around, the app gets closed pretty quickly. I have checked back multiple times, and always seem to miss everyone chatting. I would love to know if someone close by is online or chatting, so that I don't have to sit there hoping someone sees my tepid 'Hello?'.

I don't know if push notifications are the correct answer, but letting me know that there was activity that I missed, after my last post, would be a good start. Letting me know if other people are active in my region would be nice, but it's mostly that I don't want to have a conversation with myself.

I would love to know if other people are chatting, because I want to join in.

In any case, thanks for the app, have you got a public issue tracker, or anything similar?