Story and photo: Tia Tuovinen
This is not a rhetorical question. How do you get people to use, like and re-use a service, let alone suggest it to others?

I am asking this, because I am currently doing my internship in New York, in a video message recording company called Keep Tree. Keep Tree allows users to record, save and share videos about basically anything, to anyone they wish. There is no need for simultaneous internet connection, and you can also choose the video’s delivery date. So basically Keep Tree is like a Skype and Youtube combined – pretty cool, eh? Oh, and it’s free, too.

My job in the company has been recording videos like crazy (there goes the camera-shyness!), tell people about the service, and try to promote Keep Tree, mainly to exchange student agencies. I’ve learned a lot, for example that video messages from friends in another continent are very heart-warming, and that my marketing skills on the telephone are as bad as most telemarketers’. I’d rather send messages than call to people I don’t know, but when it comes to friends and family, it’s always nice to see their faces.

Back to the hype: how to make a service get as much attention and users as possible? I am still puzzled about that. Keep Tree is a good service, so why wouldn’t you use it, even for just birthday wishes? The only thing left to do is to actually register, and start recording. Heck, I’ve recorded videos just for myself and set them to be sent in the future, so now I’m just waiting for that random day when I get to see my old (well, younger) face.

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The author is student of Degree Programme in Media
Read more stories by/about IMPs, the International Media Programme students
Read more stories by Tia Tuovinen