Follow the Geeks Chapter 3
March 22, 2015 12:40 PM Subscribe
Gina Trapani described that weekend as a slow boil. There wasn't a tangible concept yet. But there was something there—a problem she needed to solve.
It was early 2009, and an idea had been nagging her for more than a year. She left Lifehacker in large part because she was ready to stop writing about all the apps other people were making and start creating some of her own. Just weeks after she stepped down as the editor, she had a phone conversation with her former boss, Gawker chief Nick Denton.
"There's a Twitter app I want to build," she had told him.
That was really interesting - thanks! It's because of lifehacker c. early 2006 that I found metafilter, so I'll always have a soft spot for it.
posted by rtha at 1:34 PM on March 22, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by rtha at 1:34 PM on March 22, 2015 [4 favorites]
Idem, rtha. I ended up on Metafilter through the Ask Mefi roundups Lifehacker used to do, way in the beginning.
posted by Karmeliet at 1:42 PM on March 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Karmeliet at 1:42 PM on March 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
The web version of ThinkUp and the roll-your-own version of ThinkUp seem very different. My roll-your-own installation seems not buggy, but not great in interface terms. Anyone use the web/paid-for version?
posted by alby at 3:02 PM on March 22, 2015
posted by alby at 3:02 PM on March 22, 2015
i'm a very happy user of the paid version; let me know if you have any questions.
also feel that anil will swoop through this thread and favorite everything any second now (and answer questions).
posted by raihan_ at 3:07 PM on March 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
also feel that anil will swoop through this thread and favorite everything any second now (and answer questions).
posted by raihan_ at 3:07 PM on March 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
This is indeed an interesting piece but I still don't really understand Think Up, what it does, or who it's for.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:15 PM on March 22, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:15 PM on March 22, 2015 [4 favorites]
It's for people who use twitter a heck of a lot and love personal quantification.
posted by tofu_crouton at 3:32 PM on March 22, 2015
posted by tofu_crouton at 3:32 PM on March 22, 2015
But who need to pay for that info too? Every month.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:45 PM on March 22, 2015
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:45 PM on March 22, 2015
Some of the data seems like it could be useful to a business, so I initially wondered if it was targeted to social media marketers. If so, then it seems even more confused, because there are products on the market that provide 10x this data.
posted by tofu_crouton at 5:06 PM on March 22, 2015
posted by tofu_crouton at 5:06 PM on March 22, 2015
That was a really well-written piece about a really neat person (and also a perfect example of how to handle someone's homosexuality in a tech story). Hadn't heard of the Follow the Geeks book project before, and sorry i missed the first two free chapters, but definitely looking forward to the rest.
posted by mediareport at 4:00 AM on March 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by mediareport at 4:00 AM on March 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Count me as another who found Metafilter through Lifehacker's AskMetafilter roundups. I've never really enjoyed Lifehacker quite as much since Gina Trapani left, not because the articles are significantly less useful, but more because she writes with quite a distinctive voice. Her Geek to Live series was something I particularly enjoyed. I've never really understood ThinkUp, but I think that's partly because social media has never much been a professional tool for me.
posted by bardophile at 5:03 AM on March 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by bardophile at 5:03 AM on March 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
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posted by heatherann at 1:13 PM on March 22, 2015 [2 favorites]