Some apps are popular because theyre useful or solve a problem.
Others are popular because theyre the Kardashians of apps: theyre famous for being famous.
Once you do all of those things, start again from the first one and repeat the process.
Sounds shitty, right?
Yeahbut its a well defined process.
Heres how it works.
You know these onesthey came first.
Uber is a great example here.
Of course, popularity isnt always bad.
Popular servicesgenerallyscale to keep up with the growing needs of their users.
In general, where the people go is where the money, attention, and development effort also goes.
But this is a double-edged sword.
Every week we hear about some new self-destructing message app like we mentioned above.
When those services are new, no ones using them, so theyre useless.
you’re free to see the catch-22.
A lot of great ideas die that way.
you’re free to think of a few biggies here: Paypal and Facebook come to mind.
Slack, for example, is the darling of the tech world right now.
It even has one of Flickrs co-founders behind it.
Other services just manage to buy the mindshare required to ensure everyone knows its name.
Make tiny, iterative updates to bring in as many new users as possible.
Thatll get people on board.
A lot of these tactics are inside baseball to media types, but you might see the problem.
Its bullshit, but there it is.
Careful where you click.
Were not just talking about productive apps either.
That said, you have to decide what real benefit means to you before you sign up or install.
This may seem like common sense, but its tougher than you might think.
Take a look at your phone.
How many apps do you have installed that you havent used in the past 30 days?
Do the same for your box.
Title illustration byTina Mailhot-Roberge.
