I love GetGlue and have a lot of friends who love it as well. With a lot of different apps and websites out there for checking into the TV shows, movies and sporting events, there was always one thing that made GetGlue stand out: Their stickers. More importantly, the fact that people could order PHYSICAL copies of the stickers they earned by checking in.
GetGlue did a great job of engaging their users with the Sticker Picture of the Week on their blog. They made upgrades this past year that the users loved (my favorite was being able to pick which of the stickers I got in the mail). If you love GetGlue, it’s because you love the physical stickers. I stuck mine on my computer. I have craft projects in the works.
So imagine my surprise when GetGlue made this announcement today. In a nutshell, they’re doing away with their physical stickers in favor of animated stickers.
Um, what?
Based on the outrage, I’m not the only one who was drawn to GetGlue for the physical stickers. What’s worse is that they have already disabled the ability to order stickers we’ve already earned.
In their blog, GetGlue says that they “wanted to explore new ways to make stickers more fun and more shareable” and their solution to this was making their stickers animated.
Look, I’m sorry but if I want GIFs from my favorite shows and movies, GetGlue stickers won’t be my first stop. Hell, they probably won’t be a stop, period. I also don’t go there to actually discuss my shows – I go to Facebook and Twitter for that.
This is a huge mistake on GetGlue’s part because it only shows that they are disconnected from what their users want. The GetGlue user community has already spoken up. There’s even a petition on Change.org with over 1100 signatures on it already.
I suggest GetGlue takes a step back before it’s too late because they’re about to permanently get rid of the one feature that set them apart from the rest of their competition.
11 thoughts on “GetGlue Gets Itself In a Sticky Situation”
Well guess there is no need to go back to Get Glue anymore than. I can tell people what I’m watching on Facebook and Twitter so why go a third place when they are taking away the one thing that drew me to their site in the first place. So long Get Glue.
Trucklady
Agreed. They’re making a really bad decision, and I hope they change their mind based on this overwhelming response from the users.
Berrak
I’m not happy with the decision either and I agree that the timing and method of the announcement was poor but I understand why they’re doing this. The people who are outraged over this are less than 1% of their active user base. Their target user isn’t sticker collectors it’s fans of TV shows. I share more of my thoughts in my podcast – http://thestickercast.com/27
The Stickercast
My biggest issue with this is that they didn’t give us any warning. They could’ve rolled out the animated stickers and given us a couple of months to order the last batch of physical stickers we wanted. I’ve been using them since the beginning, so as a loyal user, I feel really frustrated about it.
Berrak
I agree with you about what their target is, but realistically there are many other sites out there to gather information about fans of TV shows. Nearly every show around has a Facebook page, for example. And there are numerous other TV sites that are set up better so that it is easier to discuss these shows from the viewer end, and for networks and shows to get data and feedback from their end. Commenting and carrying on meaningful discussion isn’t one of GetGlue’s strong points. The ability to check-in and get physical stickers is what made their site actually work. The ability to “collect” animated gifs and post them somewhere isn’t going to attract many users, in fact, on sites where you can block apps like GetGlue (like Facebook), it’s going to lose potential members. A lot of people hate seeing busy moving gifs in their newsfeed and the first one or two of those they see, they’re going to simply block anything from GetGlue. And that is a potential user lost.
And no, I’m not one of your 1%. I’m not outraged. I’m disappointed, but really it’s not a huge loss. But I also feel a sense of relief that I don’t have to remember to check in. And if I don’t remember to check in, I’m not losing anything but an animated gif that I can simply copy and save anyway if I’m that interested. And if we get out of the habit of checking in, what use is GetGlue for their data gathering, anyway?
Sheri
I only discovered GetGlue earlier this year, and had recently passed the all important 20-sticker mark. I thought about ordering last week, but wanted to get the last Castle sticker of this year’s shows, so I waited to order them immediately after I checked in Monday night. I didn’t realize that if I followed the prompt to post that I’d done that, that my confirmation number would disappear from the screen before I’d copied it down. Apparently I ordered shortly before the link was disabled. I wonder if I’ll even get my stickers. If I don’t, I have no confirmation number to even send to contest it. I’m so disappointed that this changed just as I found it. No wonder they ignored me when I didn’t received the credits to unlock old stickers that I was supposed to for a couple of friends joining. They finally told me that the program had ended, but it hadn’t ended when my friends joined. There’s really not a point to going back to the site now, is there? Even if I do, it will be to check in to one show just in case they bring back physical stickers, not everything I watch.
Sheri
I wish I could have gotten the Glee sticker of Cory before they took them away. I really wanted that one. I don’t agree with this bs at all.
Georghia
[…] I love GetGlue and have a lot of friends who love it as well. With a lot of different apps and websites out there for checking into the TV shows, movies and sporting events, there was always one thing that made GetGlue stand … […]
GetGlue Gets Itself In a Sticky Situation | The...
[…] photographer, a writer, a fan girl, a geek, and so much more. When I wrote an impromptu post about GetGlue’s decision to get rid of their physical stickers, I felt…whole. I’m not saying that my personal blog will be a hub of pop culture […]
On Perspective & An Announcement | The World Is My Jester
Sign this petition and share it with everyone please. https://www.change.org/petitions/i-tv-and-justin-whittaker-please-bring-back-physical-stickers-to-getglue
Kat
Yeah, as soon as I found out they stopped mailing stickers I stopped using getglue.
Bill