Posterous works because people actually intend to publish their thoughts, and they are uncomfortable with using an web interface. But in case of picture I dont think people would be comfortable with idea of sending it to a third party website, why not just add multiple emails addresses to your 'to' field. also threaded conversations make it easier to have all comments / replies in a single place.
Also facebook album with proper privacy settings is much better option.
I think you're underestimating the value of organizing the information into one place. And I'm sure there are/will be other features than just picture sharing.
> I dont think people would be comfortable with idea of sending it to a third party website...facebook album with proper privacy settings is much better option
This strikes me as a tad contradictory. People wouldn't trust a third party with these pictures but facebook is somehow okay.
Finally a person savvy enough to use such website/ email based service, must already be proficient with Facebook settings.
Overall, I can't say I'll be participating in either activity though.
Also how is sending a link or notification about new pictures different from sending actual images. In case a group link is created.
It is unlikely that without notifications, people will actually go and browse the link for new pictures. In that case isn't it same as posting it on your Facebook profile as an album with appropriate privacy settings?
I think this is superior due to the simplicity of the privacy settings.
The main benefit I see is for events and occasions where multiple people want to share photos. They can all be uploaded to a single location/group rather than spread out among several different facebook albums. In addition, only the users within the group can view them. You could be diligent in the privacy settings for the photos you upload yourself, but your friend might not be and the photos could still be viewed by mutual acquaintances.
It's funny, google is trying to create a new social network (buzz, orkut, wave, ...) and they have Google Groups that are real communities (spam appart) that only need some care.
I agree about Google Groups getting ignored; it would be nice if the eventual Google Competitor to Fridge was built on an upgrade of Groups. Perhaps one that split off the Usenet part of Google Groups completely; mixing in proprietary Google Groups and Usenet via Google wasn't ever a good idea.
The point of The Fridge is that it is different to Facebook. That's the only way to succeed.
Google has many active Fridges in Groups, it just needs to make the management of Groups much more simple, as the Fridge does.
But, if The Fridge succeeds (I'm not sure about this), then it would be too late for Google, but this is only relevant to Google.
one thing we are rolling out soon is gmail and google group contact import.
Don't post it to the internet. Websites get hacked, confidences are violated. (In fact, if you actually care, you shouldn't take the picture in the first place, as PCs can be hacked as well).
If you don't want it made public, don't put it on the web is pretty good strategy.
edit: I have no idea what happened there but this comment appeared a whole bunch of times!
What we really need is a photo-sharing service that delivers the photos on that self-destructing paper they use in Inspector Gadget.
The problem of keeping secrets and whom to trust is not a new problem. It's a social problem, not a technical problem. The technology just makes the fallout of a broken confidence worse, that's all.
1. Need a favicon. In the expectation that I'll use the service, I added it to my bookmarks bar - where it shows up as the default icon. d'oh!
2. Notification on new posts is great! I'd also like the option to subscribe to new comments as well. Two levels: 1) an option to automatically subscribe to comments for each new post, and 2) an option on each post to subscribe to that post. I would use the former; but most would probably like the latter to subscribe to the occasional interesting post. Also, 3) if both above options were implemented, an option to unsubscribe from new commenta made to a post (that would over-ride the global subscription comments - so I could opt-out of a post I had no interest in)
3. UI when uploading a pic could use some work. I'm not sure what you can detect, but I assume you can know how many files you're getting - at a bare minimum, "Uploading $num of $total..." would be a help.
4. Youtube videos are only embedded when the URL is the entirety of the post. Took me a few tries to figure that out... Perhaps a button like "Add a Youtube video" that, when clicked, becomes a text box to paste the URL into with a "Post" button on that...
5. Similarly - it looks to me like pictures upload as a separate post - so instead of clicking in the post field, then clicking 'add pictures' - maybe that should be separated out like the Youtube button idea above - an "add pictures" button (or separate function somewhere easy to find, but separate from a text post). Well, could even have tabbed submission - chosing text or pics or youtube...
6. Profile pics need a little work: looks like it makes the largest square it can from the picture, starting at top-left, and cuts off the rest of the picture. All thumbnails seem to do this, which is a little odd. Might be better to at least center the square in the cropped dimension... On the profile pic: Being able to drag the image to set what part of the image was displayed for the profile pic would be awesome, and UI-light, I'd think.
7. Per a suggestion below, I set up an "HN" group - for anyone interested: http://www.frid.ge/?ginvitation=3kharhhlv8owo4wgk0wwo4kcc - I note that the email address to send is at "hn@" - which is great. To test, I set up another group also called "HN", and its email is "hn1@" - which means this is extraordinarily easy for spammers to guess... certainly to send to a@, b@, c@ etc... Also, when I changed the name of the group and created another "HN" - it got the "hn1@" email - meaning if the name is changed and someone has the old addy in their address book and someone else uses the name.......... I don't see how this can end well, even if I like the email feature itself.
I like the cleanliness of the interface. I like the ease of switching between the groups I created.
I hope this takes off - it seems useful and good.
1. doh. get one up asap (little launch things we overlooked thanks!)
2. we are working on a bit more custom notification settings. right now they default to post ON but you can always turn them off for specific group. you get notifications if someone comments on your post as well as if you have commented on something and there is follow up. the idea of subscribing to a post is great. on the list!
3. yes, we have a new photo upload interface coming out soon. know that it is not ideal!
4. youtube (and vimeo) native URLs are supported if you don't add any text. if you do it is just the video (like FB actually) however we do let use the embed code to post videos inline and add comments before or after. works for any video service as well as any flash embed.
5. see 3. but yes. coming soon!
6. absolutely. we are working on the whole photo experience one step at a time.
7. well for the dedicated email addresses for each group you have to be a Member of each group in order to post to that group. we check the sender email with the group members so people who aren't members but just try to spam all the groups won't be able to.
Thanks! We are working on rolling out a much easier to use and "polished" design that keeps the simplicity but fixes alot of these UI issues.
As you continue to use it would love any feedback, comments, or concerns. cheers!
you can see what's public from the graph api that the world is seeing
Maybe this feature is on the horizon in facebook, or maybe something like this new service will address it, or both. FB seems to be pretty good at quickly copying features that other services provide that are popular and align well with the whole social graph (e.g. twitter, foursquare).
I played with thefridge a bit just to try it out and it seems very alpha: it basically didn't work for me at all. It seems many features require email verification and although I followed the email link, I exited out of the password prompt and wasn't able to do much.
To what standard we integrate with we aren't sure yet. We know it won't be FB connect...!
Ultimately, it doesn't matter if data (email) is pushed to the user or user is pushed to the date (website). What matters is the quality and integrity of the content and communication platform. If people feel comfortable using your service, if your service is easy enough for them to use, you win.
soon we are going to integrate tighter into email so people can have the convenience of replying via email if they want but also to be able to go to the site for a richer experience.
I asked him to kill it (would you like if I posted pics of your bedroom for the world to see?)
