+1 from app

I have implemented a +1 feature which links to my gp page, i have 40000 active users , and just around 400 +1’s. it unlocks certain stuffs from my app, but it still only has 450 +1s. Im a bit confused because im sure that not only 10% of users want to unlock features for free. Has anyone implemented a +1 button inside the app before?

Well, some here have suggested that having a +1 button works (well it can’t HURT or REDUCE G+ numbers, so it MUST by definition “help”).

The question is how valuable it is - and whether it is worth the effort - since the +1 coding is not all that simple (from what I have understood).

Your ratio from your above numbers seems to be:

G+ / Active Users = 400/4000 = 0.01


I think there was a thread where we discussed the G+ ratio (to total downloads).

The ratios for 2 of my apps - the G+ / Active Users and G+ / Ratings maybe more “stable” numbers in that you are only looking at a subset of users who are somewhat interested in the app (so these numbers maybe stable for apps with low or high Active User / Total Download ratios as well) - by “stable” I mean in order of magnitude kind of way (as you can see with even my 2 apps which are somewhat similar the numbers vary a bit):

App1:
G+ / Total Downloads = 0.0087
G+ / Active Users = 0.092
G+ / Ratings = 3.56
Ratings / Total Downloads = 0.0025
Ratings / Active Users = 0.026
Active Users / Total Downloads = 0.095

App2:
G+ / Total Downloads = 0.005
G+ / Active Users = 0.056
G+ / Ratings = 2.72
Ratings / Total Downloads = 0.0024
Ratings / Active Users = 0.020
Active Users / Total Downloads = 0.119

It is clear that App1 has more “talkability” or social relevance - thus G+ numbers (which is suggestive of sharing vs. say ratings alone) are higher for App1.

Oddly the Ratings / Total Downloads figure is very “stable” i.e. nearly both are 0.0024-0.0025. And a possible reason for this maybe that Ratings/Comments are generally made by BOTH people who like your app AND those who hate it - so it may better represent the Total Downloads number.

I would guess that this number maybe “stable” - around this 0.0025 number for many many apps - and thus maybe a “universal constant”.

Also note: G +1 is currently broken by Google. They plan to push an update out on Dec 5th (completed by Dec 10th) that will fix it.

@adforandroidapps - thanks alot mate , thats a great insight, my numbers arent really “THAT” bad after all …! but my question (sorry i did not mention it clearly before) is more to the development side , basically i have provided my apps GP url in the +1 button, so basically thats the right link to paste right?
@mind - I have faced issues in .setActions() stuff… and checking if user has +1’d or not…are those the break downs you are referring to?

The numbers I quoted are for where the user is NOT being incentivized to G+ etc. or any button from within the app - these are just the numbers when nothing is done at the app end.

With incentive or a button on screen I suspect the numbers will be much more favorable.

I looked at the procedure for implementing g+ button on screen etc. - and it was a bit more complicated than I expected - but it’s supposed to be doable.

I do have an intensive , it unlocks app content, i think I’m not making it too obvious, it’ll make that part bigger and bolder , and i’ll tell you the numbers i am getting

Do you have a good link for implementing a G+ button - or something better than the google developer page ?

For Facebook is the best way (simplest one) to (using intent) just launch the url for one’s facebook page - so user can click on the like button etc. ? This would be for a “like us to earn 100 coins” type of button perhaps.

This is how you do it with Android: https://developers.google.com/+/mobile/android/recommend

It is ridiculously simple… and it is currently broken. Just a damn pity you need to include the 700kb Google Play Services library which also includes a version of Admob that is not compatible with MoPub…

Google says they will fix GPS in early Dec.
Mopub says they will make their SDK GPS compatible in Jan/Feb.

Neither of those dates are official commitments… just an internal employee telling what they current thinking is internally.

I think he’s already tried that , although even i have done the same also , I have just copy pasted the code from the link mind posted , if you want an example i can pm you my g+ activity.
@mind , just to check if i am correct , this is the real way to do right?

  1. implement This code

  2. then implement this

If you make a user launch fb to like your page, you have no guarantee that user will actually like it , so its surefire way. Maybe you can make the user post a message with your fb page link embedded inside it. This way you surely know that your social promo works well.

@protonsavy: that is pretty much what I did …

I had looked at this last time someone posted it - but not got around to it.

Thanks for pointing out the SDK compatibility stuff - I’m not using mopub - but Admob - so I then skip including the usual Admob .jar file - and just use the Google Play one you mention ?

Yes, I would have thought something like that - i.e. in thinking about user as a real person you are dealing one-to-one with. However the reality of the large numbers we are dealing with means that we can do things “statistically” also - i.e. even things which are not supposed to work - DO work because of there are some people who will do it anyway.

I would be inclined to doing a simple implementation (without using Facebook SDK) - where user is taken to your facebook page and clicks like - your app will give them the reward anyway as soon as they click on the button (or maybe can implement a small check that if user has returned to the app “too soon” means he probably didn’t click anything on facebook or something - but even that might be more unfair since some could like your page separately and then expect that magically their credit will appear - so from a logistical viewpoint (i.e. not having to handle user complaints) - perhaps the best way maybe to adopt a “too eager to give the user the coins” approach. They click the facebook button and get instant few coins or whatever.

This approach is similar to the approach many use in their apps - where they reward users for giving them a 5+ rating or a G+ rating (asking for a specific rating is a no-no) - but we have seen apps which DO use (or used this in the past now) approach. In these apps just clicking on the button gives you the credit whether you go through with it or not. From the developer point - even if this strategy has a 25% success rate that is better than nothing (or better than more complicated approaches). It seems to be a consistent thread in dealing with thousands of users that you often cannot afford to piss off users or bear the logistic burden of even a slight misunderstanding - so this kind of dictates policies which are overly lenient (and fault-tolerant) to user action.

While 5+ ratings is a no-no (asking for a G+ rating maybe ok, but rewarding for it may not be - I am not sure) - HOWEVER, asking (and even rewarding) for a facebook like is ok, since it is outside the Google framework (though in reality you may not be checking if user actually did go through with like etc.). Also there will be people who are on edge of wanting to facebook like you anyway - and they will be convinced to go through with (and hey also get some reward for it).

So far this is theoretical - but we have good numbers from Matthew… (of Construction City) who has posted numbers in another thread - where he uses this simple approach - and is able to get some reasonable facebook likes just from that. The reason it works is that many users are non-tech and are unaware of the caveats (or they don’t want to think and just approach it in the straightforward way). Others even if they know the button cannot check - may give the like out of pure honesty (there are such people). There maybe a big number who “misuse” it - and this is precisely why your reward should not be a deal-breaker - if you are just giving 100 coins out of 1000 coins required to unlock the pro version or whatever, it is sufficient incentive - plus doesn’t harm the competitive landscape that much.

What to do …

Therefore, while I have so far ignored facebook for all it’s complication (and not having the time for that - also I didn’t feel like signing up personal facebook profile to app development). However, I will consider putting a facebook button that just takes to your facebook page URL (since I do have a facebook product page - which doesn’t require personal info - but which so far did not have much likes).

I will also consider putting a G+ like button or something - though my previous impression was that it will complicate … but I’ll look into it (mind’s comments about SDK being incompatible with mopub etc. are indicative of the type of “vibe” I got when I looked at the G+ integration info some time back).

Regarding G+ numbers vs. Facebook numbers (and their virality/social value)

BTW I was looking at some app - which has both Facebook like and G+ like incentives - and just as a data point - the Facebook had 231 like or so - while the G+ profile page had 71 likes. So this is suggestive of the numbers you may get for one vs. the other (my own impression of G+ is that it is a quite unpopulated place - which MAY be changing though after Google integrated all it’s properties with single id - or something like what they have done with youtube with G+ being used in youtube etc. …).

In comparison to G+, also with Facebook - what happens when someone likes your product page ? That is seen by all their friends etc. (vs. G+ - how many are monitoring their G+ status - or is that now more common because many youtube posters are monitoring that or what ?).

I suspect that still the virality value of a Facebook like is probably 5x that of a G+ like maybe ?

This maybe better than just a like - but would require integrating Facebook SDK and all that - something I’m not considering for now.

But for a game which updates scores as facebook messages by the user is how Candy Crush Saga etc. got their virality.

That really depends on what you are looking for , g+ gives exposure on gp(your xxx friend +1’d this app) where are fb notifies friends, as it depends on you. Basically give the user an OR option between g+ and fb, and reward them similarly.

Search for a library called simple facebook, you can get fb inside your app in seconds , also the benifit of using the sdk is you can get callbacks,so you definitely know that user clicked something. Try it out,better be sure than speculate…

This is a really stupid question - but what should an ideal post by user be about your app - the text should mention the @Developer - and have a link to facebook - or @Developer and then link to Google Play …

No question is stupid, i have kept either fb or g+ as a way to provide incentive to the user, in facebook , ive kept ,hey guys check this app out, i had also thought about keeping " i love this app" but that’d give me 1* and angry people :smiley: so yeah, frame a message thats not too obvious still gives a positive image of your app.

As you can see I am a bit averse to facebook (and that whole sign up with facebook as a user first and then you can create app and all that) - I find the whole format completely intrusive. I have setup a facebook page as a “product page” - which is something I was comfortable with since it doesn’t require personal info etc. However such a page does not allow creation of “Apps” which is what is required if you want to do facebook SDK integration etc.

But I just discussed this with someone - and it seems:

  • when someone likes your facebook page - they become a “follower” (like on twitter) to further updates from you (like you change cover image, or status change, or post a message) - this means having a large “like” number is like followers on twitter - and can be used to market your next app etc.

  • when someone posts something about your app (or your app using facebook SDK essentially creates that message for them) - that message as protonsavy suggests can include appropriate text - and can have a link to your Google Play page (which may help direct downloads - small conversion rate perhaps) - but if your purpose is to increase your “followers” (in twitter parlance) - I would guess the better way would be to use a url for the facebook page. This way there is (perhaps a higher likelihood of getting a “like” than a full download of your app.

It would seem that from the point of view of “virality” - i.e. you are not as interested in the user who clicks “like”/comments - but are interested in THEIR friends knowing about your stuff (that is the multiplicative factor) - having “likes” has advantage for future promotion etc.

From my understanding (could be incorrect) - regardless of whether someone “likes” your facebook page, or sends a message - in either case it gets similar forwarding to their “friends” (a separate group of people they have identified to facebook).

If you wanted to publicize your Google Play link - THEN sending a message would be beneficial - as that info is not forwarded when your user “likes” your facebook page - your app can use the facebook SDK to generate the message with text and url of your choice etc. BUT if your only purpose is for that message to have a link to your facebook page - then it would seem that the “like” option would do a similar job (sure you cannot tailor the message with a description) - but it would be pointing to the facebook url.

At least that’s how I’ve understood it - from this understanding - I think (for now) - just sending user to their browser with a facebook url would do at 50% of the job (and much easier - since you wouldn’t require facebook SDK integration) - plus if you are wary of facebook “app” creation and all that it entails - it is much much simpler with the plain url approach.

The question then becomes that if you launch an intent for a URL - that will give the user a choose dialog with all the apps that can handle that (unless you want to specifically target one app - something you wouldn’t do for browsers since you don’t know what favorite browser they have on their phone etc.). So for browsers they will get the choice of browsers on their phone.

The question is - would they also see “facebook app” as one of the choices - i.e. is a facebook app registered to handle URLs (or URLs of a certain format ?? - don’t even know if this second wrinkle is feasible in android).

If facebook app DOES show up as option for general URLs etc. - would you then restrict intent to only launch in facebook app - or general URL and choice upto user is good enough …

most effective is posting to the facebook user’s stream. not like your app or anything, post to their stream for maximum visibility.

the most genius facebook sharing I’ve seen is 4 pics 1 word having an option to ask your Facebook for help with a question. it posts to the stream and the user WANTS to post to their stream, to get an answer.