Digsby Twitter stream ads [to developers]

Dear Digsby developers,

This story was on Mashable today.  Summary: ads are going to be displayed in everyone's Digsby Twitter stream.

Developers - why do you need to do this?  Haven't you already got the multitude of signup offers, plus the Research Module?  (Which, in fact, is introduced with the sentence "Help Digsby stay free and ad-free".)  The reason that people use Digsby is because it's the best program out there - I've converted many friends over from services like Windows Live Messenger and the like, the clinching argument being that it was minimalistic and ad-free.

I appreciate that you need to make money, and given that Digsby is free and without advertisements, you need some other way of generating revenue.  With the amount of new users you're getting, I'd have thought that the signup advertisement spots would have been enough (obviously I'm in no place to comment on this, that is pure speculation on my part), or if not, the Research Module should (I'm not sure whether it's enabled by default any more on new installs).

Some people are going to read this and think "Well, Digsby is free, so you really have no grounds for a complaint.".  I understand that.  But, in the end, people are going to flock to the product which offers the best experience for the end user - right now, in my opinion, that's Digsby.  Introduce in-line ads where people expect to see friends' content?  Expect to see a major decline in Digsby usage, with people choosing instead to move to an ad-free client.  (I know that the ads are supposed to be relevant.  But ads are ads.)

How is the following for a solution to all of this: have the advertisements enabled by default, but also include an opt-out option.  That way, the users who don't care about the ads will see them, and you'll get the revenue (arguably the majority of users at this point).  The users who do care can opt out, and they'll be happy to use Digsby.

Please, don't release an update that degrades the user experience.

Thanks for your time, and for an awesome product.

(Edit: If the Mashable story isn't true, and they've taken something you said completely the wrong way or anything like that, I apologise.)

Last edited by davidlyness (2009-12-22 20:35:40)

I'm sorry but did you even pay attention to that story? What a crock of s***. For a start they say Digsby is going to be showing these ads but then show a screenshot of Twitter with the ads on the iPod touch. Next their so called early mock up of how the ads will look in Digsby's Twitter window is actually Digsby's Facebook newsfeed. Do we really think that if these ads work Digsby will be the only twitter ap to be using them?

I'm sorry but this is just another sad, patehtic attempt at ruining Digbsy's reputation just as the Lifehacker story.

carbonize wrote:

I'm sorry but this is just another sad, patehtic attempt at ruining Digbsy's reputation just as the Lifehacker story.

I did read the story, and as my post says, I do apologise in case Mashable have gotten their story wrong.  I'd just like some kind of confirmation from the Digsby developers what they will / will not be doing - I don't think that's too much to ask.

The opt out is very simple - if digsby starts adding advertisement, it's worse than any other client except for ICQ/WLM original, so i'll just switch back to miranda, pidgin Trillian or IMO, or any other client.

davidlyness wrote:

carbonize wrote:

I'm sorry but this is just another sad, patehtic attempt at ruining Digbsy's reputation just as the Lifehacker story.

I did read the story, and as my post says, I do apologise in case Mashable have gotten their story wrong.  I'd just like some kind of confirmation from the Digsby developers what they will / will not be doing - I don't think that's too much to ask.

No I'm not having a go at you but rather at that story. There is no mention of any other Twitter client nor is there any citation from dotSyntax.

If Digsby want to show an ad at the top of the Twitter window then that's fine by me but, as I have said before, for every client that shows ads in the client there is a programmer willing to write an app to remove them.

Would any of the Digsby developers care to comment?

It's Christmas so I doubt any of them will be replying any time soon.

@davidlyness: We removed all the offers in the installer a while back so that revenue stream is long gone.  The research module is optional and Plura is still working to develop a client base for it.  If there are ever ads in Digsby they will either be optional or we will offer an ad-free pro version.  As the article said, the screenshot is an early mockup.

good news - sure, i would prefer optional ads, but if you really need money, there is nothing to say against a fair price for an adfree product that works.

@steve: Many thanks, that's what I wanted to hear.  Keep up the good work on Digsby, and I hope that you can find a revenue stream that pleases everyone!

so i am seeing ads in my facebook stream now.  how do i opt out, or where do i buy a version that does not have them?

blog.digsby.com wrote:

Trending News: We’ve partnered with the folks at OneRiot to bring the latest trending news stories to your social feeds.  You can enable/disable via Preferences > General & Profile.

thank you mike

carbonize wrote:

It's Christmas so I doubt any of them will be replying any time soon.

That was real productive. And you were wrong too... HA!

Well, technically he was right, none of us devs responded because we were on vacation to various parts of the country. Steve, however, picked up our slack on looking at the forums every now and then.