

Ask HN: Rate my free group texting service with public API - geoffc
http://groupflier.com

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geoffc
I just launched the API today so any feedback on it would be greatly
appreciated. The direct link to the API is
<http://www.groupflier.com/api.html>

P.S. Click the phone image to watch the video easter egg

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johnrob
"Add a row" is not a good call to action since "row" is a developer term. I'd
go with something like "Add more users".

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geoffc
Thanks, will do!

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geoffc
Done and live. I went with "Add more".

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tdd
Service sounds fantastic, can't wait to see more progress on it!

Also suggestion - I think the design could use some work, have you considered
making the grey footer abit bit lighter so there is better contrast with your
links?

I would also create real text on your page, for example the "free text
messaging groups for friends, family, colleagues" could easily be in text
rather than a .gif

Keep up the good work!

~~~
geoffc
Thanks for the feedback, I will pass this on to our graphics guru.

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JocoProductions
Great service, I might have to switch my fraternity which is using a paid and
broken service (textmelater.com) over to this. One quick thing though. The
title tag of the form field didn't show up on Mac FF (3.6.13) and it isn't
apparently obvious what the fields are there for. Maybe add a label to the
fields or at least the top name and number fields to make them stand out more.

~~~
geoffc
Rat's I will look at that version of FF. If you switch over I would appreciate
the feedback on how it works for you.

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harrisonhjones
Just noticed something, when you click "Your Groups" and then enter your phone
# it tells you to enter a pin. If you click off of that box while waiting for
your pin the damn pin box goes away. Kinda annoying because now you have to do
everything again

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geoffc
Thanks, will fix.

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joshma
Awesome idea, maybe biased because my friend and I were talking about a
similar idea maybe just a week ago. :) Maybe some way to import contacts? Not
sure if it's overkill, but maybe worth considering.

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joshma
Ouch, does Your Groups work? I typed in my mobile number and it said it
couldn't be found, now it's alerting THROTTLE since I probably tried too many
times haha.

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geoffc
Ah, I think I know what is going on. Did you send a welcome message to the
group from your cell phone? If you didn't then your group is staged and not
yet created. I need to check for numbers in the staged groups as well. Thanks
for the feedback.

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endtime
If you don't mind my asking, what's your business model?

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geoffc
The VC's are funding a few companies in this space on the hope that this is
the future of social networking. If that happens the biggest network will be
able to monetize the traffic with tag line ads, mobile ads, coupons or the
like. Until then the VC's are paying the freight for all the SMS traffic so
enjoy the free texting :-)

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yantramanav
It looks like a killer app to me. There is a similar service in India called
SMSGupShup which is a big hit.

best luck!

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joshma
Suggestion, change * for commands to something else. I like to use * to
correct typos.

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geoffc
I picked * as it is a primary key on a regular cellphone keypad. I might add
the option for the user to customize the command prompt. Thanks for the
feedback.

~~~
joshma
Oh wow, that makes a lot of sense actually. Sorry for my bias, snobby iphone
user here.

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ameyamk
What are you using for telephony integration? twilio?

~~~
geoffc
Yes

