Understanding Where Humans Come From... and Making Their Arrival Visible
Since my last article, I have continued to work with Claude Code on FreeWillWave.
This time, there were two main objectives.
The first was to understand how humans arrive at the Wave: from which advertisement, which platform, or which link.
The second was to ensure that when they arrive, they do not just discover a site with numbers, but something alive.
A map that reacts.
Activities that appear.
Profiles that can be discovered.
Support that becomes visible.
An experience that truly begins to resemble a human wave.
Finally Knowing What Brings Humans
When launching advertisements on multiple platforms, the numbers reported by the platforms are not enough.
They may announce hundreds of clicks. But how many people actually arrived on the site? How many signed up? And most importantly: where did they really come from?
I have therefore spent a good part of these last days fixing and completing this entire measurement chain.
Reddit is Now the Primary Entry Point
The data is now much clearer: Reddit is currently the primary source of registrations for FreeWillWave.
In the last seven days, about 36 registrations have been attributed to it, and nearly 80% of registrations come from paid campaigns.
X follows as a true second advertising source.
This result is important because before trying to reach more people, I need to know what actually works. It is pointless to multiply campaigns in all directions if some bring humans and others only produce artificial clicks.
I also discovered that an ad displayed on X was directing to the page designed for Reddit. Visits from X could therefore be counted as coming from Reddit.
This has now been corrected. Each platform can finally tell its own story.
Recovering Registrations That the Browser Couldn’t See
A large portion of Reddit visitors use a phone and open the site within the browser integrated into the app.
However, this browser can block the classic system used to detect a registration.
This means that a person could discover FreeWillWave, answer the question, register... and then disappear from the advertising statistics.
I have therefore added the CAPI Reddit, which allows sending the registration confirmation directly from the server.
In other words, measurement depends less on the person's browser. Mobile registrations that previously slipped under the radar can now be recognized.
It’s not spectacular to look at, but it’s essential: I can finally better understand what a campaign actually produces.
The Last Gap in the Statistics
The personal invitation page, the one whose address starts with /i/, was the only page in the journey that was not yet tracked by Umami.
Yet it was an important page, as it is the one that members share directly with those around them.
This gap is now filled.
I can therefore more cleanly track the complete path: a person sees a link, arrives via an invitation, discovers the project, and possibly chooses to participate.
The End of an Advertisement That Led Almost Nowhere
The most impressive — and least encouraging — result concerns Google Display.
Google had charged for about 420 clicks.
But in the actual site statistics, I found only one real visitor.
One.
This represents about 99.8% of clicks that left no trace of a real visit.
I already knew that this campaign produced a lot of traffic from mobile apps and very questionable placements. This time, I got precise confirmation of it.
I decided to cut it off.
This budget was not helping to grow the Wave. It mainly fed a click counter at Google.
I prefer to invest less but know that there are real people behind the visits.
A Map That Begins to React to What Humans Do
While I was working on the entry points, I also continued to transform the Wave page.
The goal is simple: when a person acts, the site must show it.
A registration should not just silently change a number in a database. A support should not remain hidden in an administrative table. An energy sent should contribute to the overall atmosphere.
The site must give the feeling that something is happening.
Supports Now Appear on the Map
When opening the Map view, the last fifteen supports can now be replayed.
Small green dollars appear and slowly rise on the map, accompanied by a soft sound of coins.
The first version was a bit too concentrated at the bottom of the screen. I reworked the animation so that the elements are spread across the entire map and rise more slowly and steadily.
It is obviously not the money that constitutes the Wave. But a support is a real action from a human who decides to help the project continue.
It deserves to become visible too.
The Site Now Has a Pulse
Registrations, supports, and energy sends can now appear in a pulse of activity.
This pulse is present at the top and bottom of the site, on all pages and all screen sizes.
The idea is that at any moment, even when viewing one’s profile or another part of the site, one can feel that the Wave continues to move.
The site is no longer just a succession of pages. It is beginning to have an activity that runs through it.
The Energy of the Last 24 Hours Becomes a Real Living List
The list “Energy 24 h” now updates live.
The lines are also clickable: one can move from an activity to the public profile of the person behind it.
Behind an event, there is gradually a name, a country, a language, a bio, and sometimes links.
This is important because FreeWillWave should not only show statistics. It must allow understanding that each unit in a counter corresponds to a real human.
Profiles That Tell More About People
I have also reworked the public profiles a lot.
The page /u/ now correctly displays the biography and links provided by the person.
A visitor who is not logged in has a clear return path. The account menu displays a dot when information deserves attention. A small golden Earth has also found its place in the header.
On the personal page /me, some texts have been made more direct. The titles now speak to the person: “Your impact of the day”, for example.
I also removed a block that told what had happened “since their arrival,” but which did not provide enough clarity.
Notifications have also become more human. They now display the flag and language of the concerned person. Names are clickable, and a flashing red dot signals new alerts.
Gradually, the numbers cease to be anonymous.
Small Things That Change the Experience a Lot
Part of the work done may not necessarily deserve a big chapter, but it greatly improves the overall feel of the site.
The BACKLINK window on the /wave page now contains a real form. It is no longer necessary to leave the page to declare a link to FreeWillWave.
The energy orb, which had disappeared following a modification, has been restored. Its halo has also been corrected.
All buttons and links now correctly display the hand-shaped cursor.
The language selector remains present in the footer, which is particularly important for an experience offered in fifteen languages.
The fonts on the invitation page and sharing cards have also been harmonized around Manrope and DM Sans.
The colors have become more consistent:
- Supports use green;
- Backlinks use gray;
- Languages use purple;
- all Support buttons are now green.
These details do not change the principle of FreeWillWave. But they make its visual language easier to understand.
A New Reddit Page That Finally Asks the Real Question
The page intended for visitors coming from Reddit has been completely revised.
Previously, it mainly presented the project.
Now, it directly addresses the person arriving and asks them the question:
Will you choose freedom — and respect that same freedom in others?
This question is at the heart of FreeWillWave.
The page then displays the answers live and shows the reach already achieved: the question is asked in fifteen languages and has already received responses in several countries.
A link to the press page has also been added, so that those who wish to understand or relay the project can go further.
The advertising image has also been regenerated around a much more direct message:
WILL YOU CHOOSE FREEDOM?
I believe this approach corresponds much better to what FreeWillWave has become.
It is not just about explaining a social experience. It is about asking a question to a human and allowing them to respond.
Bringing in Humans, Then Showing Them They Are Not Alone
Looking at all this work, I see two projects moving forward together.
The first half consists of opening the right doors:
- understanding what Reddit actually brings;
- correctly measuring mobile registrations;
- distinguishing Reddit from X;
- tracking invitations;
- stopping payment for clicks that do not correspond to real visits.
The second half consists of making visible the humans who have crossed these doors:
- a map that reacts;
- an activity that circulates;
- supports that appear;
- profiles that can be discovered;
- more human notifications;
- a question that directly addresses each person.
This is where everything comes together.
Bringing people in is not enough.
It is also necessary that upon arrival, they can understand that they are not alone. That elsewhere, in other countries and in other languages, other humans have read the same question and made their own choice.
Because knowing that we are many who respect human freedom could change a lot of things.
It could allow us to recognize each other, to find each other, and perhaps to start organizing differently among ourselves.
The Wave is still slowly growing.
But the site is gradually becoming capable of showing that it exists.