Slides from Jim Lane's presentation at RefreshDC on November 16, 2010, titled "AddThis: Designing for One Billion People", which described five strategies the AddThis team used to grow their platform to one billion unique users in less than two years.

1. AddThis

2. A D D T H I S
Designing for One Billion People

3. AddThis: Then & NowAddThis: Then & Now

4. 2008
• 50 services
• 17 languages
• 116k domains
• 300M views a day
AddThis: Then & Now

5. 2010:
• 308 services
• 66 languages
• 7.2 million domains
• 2 billion views a day
• 1 billion unique users
2008
• 50 services
• 17 languages
• 116k domains
• 300M views a day
AddThis: Then & Now

6. • Design for growth
• Be dangerously open
• Be data-informed
• Build to scale
• Embrace customers
Designing for 1 Billion

7. Design for GrowthDesign for Growth

8. Design for growth
Client API: http://addthis.com/help/client-api
Put publishers first:

9. vs
Design for growth
For end users, make sharing simple & effortless:

10. Check out http://960.gs/
Design for growth
Be nimble:

11. Design for growth
Develop a style and stick to it:

12. Design for growth

13. Design for growth

14. Be Dangerously OpenBe Dangerously Open

15. Be dangerously open
Reduce barriers to adoption:

16. Crowd-source translation:
Be dangerously open

17. Open-source service submission:
Be dangerously open

18. Open-source sharing protocol:
Be dangerously open

19. Be Data-InformedBe Data-Informed

20. Be Data-InformedBe Data-Informed
Qualitative:
•Surveys
•Forums
•User testing
•Email Feedback
•Internal analytics
database
•A/B and multivariate
testing with Google
Website Optimizer
•Google Analytics
reporting
Quantitative:

21. http://surveymonkey.com
Use surveys to reach users:
Be Data-Informed

22. Be Data-Informed
http://usertesting.com
Crowd-source user testing:

23. Be Data-Informed
Google Website Optimizer:
http://www.google.com/analytics/siteopt/
A/B test with Google Website Optimizer:

24. Hover behavior increases sharing rate x4
Be Data-Informed
Showing services doubles sharing

25. Menu order and positions matter:
Be Data-Informed

26. Menu presentation can increase sharing:
Be Data-Informed

27. Build to scaleBuild to scale

28. • Akamai CDN
• Optimize code and images
• Streamline technical support and QA
Build to scaleBuild to scale

29. Embrace CustomersEmbrace Customers

30. Embrace Customers
•Respond to forums & feedback
•Put social media to work
•Publisher outreach
•Beta testing

31. Lessons LearnedLessons Learned

32. Lessons Learned
• Design for growth
• Be dangerously open (even if it’s uncomfortable)
• Be data-informed
• Build to scale
• Embrace customers

33. Don’t forget to have fun

34. One more thing.One more thing.

35. One more thing.
During 30 minutes of this talk,
AddThis was viewed roughly 43.7 million times.

36. Thank you.Thank you.
Email : jim@clearspring.com
Twitter: jimlanenova
Come join the fun:
http://clearspring.com/jobs
Any images from films borrowed for this presentation are the property of their copyright holders!

37. AddThis