Final Blog Post - Summary

When I first began this project, I had an inkling of an idea, a thought that had crossed my mind and was sitting in the back of my head. By doing this blog (almost) every week, it forced me to spend time thinking, working on and exploring my idea of Clapboard. I am really proud and excited about it, and who knows where it will go! It's really great having it down on (figurative) paper that I can direct people to when I'm explaining it in the future.

My entrepreneurial idea in summary is to create a social network revolving around the film industry, and how people watch and interact with movies. On Clapboard users receive points based on their viewings of movies in a hierarchy based on where and how they see the movie, whether online, in theatres, rented etc. You can also review movies, become a "director" of a movie, use your points towards rewards and much much more, take a look at my previous posts.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this project. I got more and more excited as I fleshed out my various ideas for Clapboard. I also really enjoyed looking at other classmates ideas and blogs. I looked and commented on Tim Cheng's all-in-one gaming device, Julia Pantalone's wireless curling iron, and Jenna Foote's blog review all of which I found very interesting. I'll be curious to see a couple years down the road who from our class will end up putting their ideas into practice, the next RJ Sherman if you will. 

Blog Review Post - GigaOm

The blog I chose to review is a site by the name of Gigaom (http://gigaom.com/). It is this amazing database of blogs about everything going on in the business, technology and innovative world. A plethera of articles are posted daily, sometimes 5-6 a day, about everything from the AT&T merger with T-Mobile, to what's going on with Netflix and Facebook. Every article I saw had something in it that I found interesting or learned about. And that's only the homepage! The homepage has a collection of the all the latest articles posted in the tabs....
   The other tabs on the site are essentially individual blogs. For example, there is an Apple blog about everything happening with Apple like the latest app, the newest device, business deals, problems with apple products, everything under the sun. There's also blog tabs about Broadband (internet), Cleantech (environmentally conscious technology and innovation), Cloud (the growing world of cloud computing), Collaboration (How to's, tips, top 10's of technology), Mobile (pretty self explanatory, phones, tablets, etc), and Video (an interesting section about TV, Movies, youtube etc. and the latest about those).
  Overall the blogsite is phenomenal, really a 7-in-1 blogsite, and has many authors. However, one blogger that caught my eye was Janko Roettgers. He blogs for gigaom and the majority of his posts fall under the Video tab (called newteevee). His posts discuss a wide range of topics, but mostly dealing with TV and film, which I personally find interesting being in that career path. He blogs about Netflix, the latest in online video, startup online shows, the newest sites for posting video. For example, I learned about tout, a site that is like the twitter version of youtube, allowing only up to 11 seconds of video per post. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole site, Janko's articles and recommend you do too!

Brand-Yourself - Week #7

Today in class a Syracuse grad, RJ Sherman, gave a very interesting presentation about individual marketing. He talked about what companies look for in a personal profile, whether on linkedin, twitter, facebook, or your own personal website. He also discussed current trends in the business/marketing/hiring world. For example, how companies look at potential employees online, what they like/don't like, and also important tips/guidelines on what you should do to improve your "brand".
       I found this lecture very intriguing and inspiring as a college student looking to crack into the job world. Although RJ's company is more of a business-oriented website, his story about starting up a company when he was attending SU was very inspiring. I wish I had the technical skills that he does to actually put my idea into action. I think my Clapboard idea is a business booster for the film industry, but more so is for fun/entertainment for the users. It may not be profit driven, but look at facebook, it wasn't originally started with monetary purpose, but rather expanded and expanded until it would be foolish not to.
    Finally, I have more to add to my Clapboard....either using or mimicking the twitter model, fans would be able to follow their favorite actors/actresses/directors and see their opinions on other movies/movies they've seen. In addition, they could update what movies they are working on, post production photos etc. Or say they are at a premier, or going to be attending a pre-screening, things of that nature..

Connection to others....Week #6

Another aspect of Clapboard that I didn't go into detail about is its ability to link with other social media. Most websites, companies, social media sites, youtube...EVERYTHING links to one another. The same would be for Clapboard, so if you purchase a movie, enter a theater/movie, you could connect it to your twitter and it would tweet what you were watching. There could be a box on facebook, showing your recent rated/seen movies, in addition to status updates.
Relating to the week before last's lab, you could also record an audio review of a movie. Instead of typing out on a small touchscreen keyboard on your iphone or blackberry qwerty keboard, you would be able to use your cell phone to record your thoughts/review. You could even do it right after you leave the theater, in the car on the way home, or wherever! Of course, your review would only be published if you had scanned the appropriate movie code etc. You could even make it into a podcast of your own, ebert and roeper style.
Once again, the main hinge on all of this, is big movie companies buying into the idea. But it could also be useful for grassroots movies, independent, amateur films etc. similar to how anyone can get on imdb (including yours truly). It would be an even playing field in some ways, not so much in others (like rewards etc)