I was reading how some websites (most recently Quechup) mishandle their user privacy. As you know, many social networks induce users to invite their friends en-mass, which is known as “viral marketing.” Some unethical sites take this tactic too far and simply spam their users’ address books. While I understand the need to grow a website, I disapprove of manipulative practices.
Almost all sites have these so-called social and viral features such as sharing and address book import. That said, it is a fine line between valid viral tactics and malicious spamming, and some sites have crossed that line. We have yet to win over our users’ trust, which is why we haven’t introduced viral features. If you look closely, we don’t even have an Invite button.
As we have promised many times, we will not build a feature that does not make sense with our core value proposition. This means that we will not introduce any viral or social feature unless it complements your user experience. Yes, our minimalist design principle will hamper our user growth in the near term, but we hope that our persistence will win your trust at the end.
Building user trust takes a long time, and every bit of goodwill will help. This is why why we actively blog and communicate with our users. We cannot say that we will never make any mistakes, but we will be transparent and we will take responsibility.
Finally, we are releasing some cool features tomorrow, so the system will be down temporarily for upgrades.
