Viral/sharing features in products

Discussions
#1

I was thinking about this topic, probably because my app has (at last count) three “Share” buttons. Whether they will be used at all, or only used to mock the app, I’m not yet sure. The possibility some would want to share what they saw in the app, prompting discussion of the app on social sites, made it clear I should put them in.

Aside: the ALS bucket challenge is interesting, as it wouldn’t have exploded without video cameras on phones and free video sharing social media sites. A few years ago, it would have been a blip on the news.

Are you using viral/sharing features in your apps beyond referral discounts?

#2

I’m not using them in the current incarnation, but planning to add Twitter & Facebook sharing soon, for a couple of public elements (“vote for my session!” etc). Social sharing is definitely useful in the conference & events space. It’s also useful to your customers, from a data/metrics perspective. Are you able to track number of shares & report that?

#3

What you describe sharing makes a lot of sense; let your users promote themselves and your app in the process.

My app is b2c, so the numbers would only be of interest to me. I could add analytics to tell me which share button was pressed. I think with the built-in iOS sharing I’m using, the actual sharing details (what kind of sharing, the message, etc.) are not available. With the third-party OvershareKit, one might be able to get more of that information. Since my app may be bought by/for those under 18, I personally plan to steer clear of gathering potentially identifying/sensitive information.

I’ll probably put a hashtag in the default text of the share to make it easier for searching for shares.