How do I gather people to beta test my productivity tool?

Possible Duplicate: Beta Testers: What is the best way to find good beta testers?

I'm designing and developing a little project overview application. I'd like some people to test it, but so far I only have a few. I'm tweeting about it, posting it on facebook, but my friends don't seem to be too interested.

I've considered putting announcements on productivity forums, but I feel it will be confused with spamming.

How do you gather beta testers?

For a brand new product, start with people you know. Get them to use it. Bribe them if necessary.

However, if you can't find beta testers then you are going to have a hard time finding paying users.

Actually I am going through this right now and it seems that the most efficient way to do this for me was to target and contact potential customers and see if they would be my beta testers and in return I would give them free access to the system. This is giving me real world feedback and a possible inroad to my target market.

Good luck, Tim - VA

You could look at sites that are not your customers, for example, posting to Hacker News. This is how Paras Chopra got started with VisualWebOptimiser in it's alpha/beta days.

Depending on where you live, your best bet may be going to local businesses that you think might have need of your app. In particular talk to people you already have connections with, or at least friends of friends. Tell them you're a local developer and you can provide them free licenses to the shipping version of the app if they'll help you with the beta. Sometimes a real life introduction is a better way of getting the testing rolling than anything you can do online.

The difficulty I've encountered with friends and family is that they 1) may not be interested in the app you're creating (which doesn't mean it's of no interest to a target audience, and 2) may not be critical enough in evaluating it out of fear of hurting your feelings.

Best of luck!