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Show HN: Seven39, a social media app that is only open for 3 hours every evening

(www.seven39.com)
735 points mklyons | 4 comments | 11 Mar 25 01:05 UTC | HN request time: 0.635s | source

I built this site as a quick test if a time boxed social media experience feels better than an endless one. So far I've just been using it with friends and it feels nice, but it seems like it is time to bring it to a larger audience.

Let me know what you think! It is just based on EST for now, sorry.

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simonkagedal ◴[11 Mar 25 06:05 UTC] No.43329622[source]▶
I think it's a really cool idea. I signed up because I had a brain fart and thought that "EST" was "European Standard Time" (I was of course thinking of CET).

So yeah, the current window wouldn't work for me, but that's fine. Everything doesn't have to be for everyone. We all live in our bubbles anyway; creating artificial rules could actually be ways of creating new, unexpected interactions.

This being said – if you were to adjust the rules to accommodate more people, I don't think it should be "open from 7:39 to 10:39 in whatever your local time zone is", because that feels like it would just destroy the whole idea – that everyone is there at the _same_ time. Also, it would still exclude people who work evenings.

An alternative solution would be to have multiple windows. For example, if you have one starting at 7:39 PM EST and another one at 7:39 AM EST, there would be more chances that there is some time during the day for people around the globe to check in. Depending, of course, on many things: time zones, sleep habits, work schedule, ability to briefly slack off during work, etc. It would remain true to the idea while opening up for some more people. Just a thought.

I also think each window could be smaller, maybe like just one hour?

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josephg ◴[11 Mar 25 06:47 UTC] No.43329813[source]▶
> So yeah, the current window wouldn't work for me, but that's fine. Everything doesn't have to be for everyone. We all live in our bubbles anyway; creating artificial rules could actually be ways of creating new, unexpected interactions.

I like the idea that something like this could be open for 3 hours in the evening local time. Like, you'd get totally different communities coming on at different times, and having completely separate experiences together. But some other people would bridge the gap.

While you're online, every hour some people would be forced to leave and some other people could join.

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1. usrusr ◴[11 Mar 25 13:10 UTC] No.43332065[source]▶
A moving window would be just like what you already get with somewhat global communities. E.g. hn while Europe and Africa is mostly sleeping vs hn while the Americas are mostly sleeping. As I understand it, seven39 is not so much about only being allowed to chime in during a specific time window, but about it being offline outside that window. You could have multiple instances from date line to date line, but they'd have separate content and user identities (even if some people might have accounts in different timezones).

What I really don't get, it completely blows my mind: why hasn't this concept been completely chewed through, explored to hell and back, back in the days when everybody and their dog tried to invent some new variation of social media website (and get bought up by Yahoo when they ran out of runway or grew tired of it)? Age of the yo app? Feels almost as if the convertible wasn't invented before 100 years after the automobile.

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2. intrasight ◴[11 Mar 25 14:13 UTC] No.43332640[source]▶
> why hasn't this concept been completely chewed through,

Perhaps because it would be self-defeating from a profit perspective

3. djsavvy ◴[11 Mar 25 22:42 UTC] No.43337897[source]▶
I think that what sets this type of apart is its position as a response to the fatigue people feel from social media in its current form. I don't think something like this would have resonated as much when social media was in its infancy.
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4. usrusr ◴[12 Mar 25 14:17 UTC] No.43343510[source]▶
True. Also in the very old days, people actively "went online" at certain times. Dial in the modem, visit the Internet Cafe, things like that. A web community would better be ready and waiting.

But then on the other hand, there have been a few years between that time and the present...