18/01: Social Plumbing
Greeting from Sundance!
I’ve been called a certifiable movie nut by my friends. They always know that I can be found at Sundance watching the films. The last few years I have been fortunate enough to be on the judging panels, which is quite a responsibility.
Last year, my dear friend Brad Pitt and I almost got into trouble out here in Park City when we would only speak using the ‘Piker’ Dialect that he used in the great movie ‘Snatch’. I helped him prepare for that movie by spending days on end only speaking in that hard-to-understand accent and bringing him interviews I had done with true ‘Pikers’ from England.
Part of Sundance is merchandisers trying to determine what the fashion trends are this year. Merchandisers are frequently trying to get trendsetter stars to wear a specific brand of sunglasses or winter boots in the hopes that others see this and thus start the trend.
This year, I had dinner with a couple of merchandiser friends of mine from New York. They were all a buzz about this new site, www.ThisNext.com. The site allows people to show off neat products and discuss them. I pulled up the site on my iphone and was impressed.
ThisNext.com is a great example of how social networking is moving from buzz phrase to foundation. Social Networking has been popularized by sites such as Facebook and MySpace, where people can build profiles and communicate with each other through the sites. Incredibly popular, and perfect for the Internet. I receive at least ten requests a week from people wanting us to create ‘the next facebook’ for them on a shoestring budget and some stock options.
This site isn’t a typical ‘social networking’ site, but instead it utilizes what I like to call ‘social plumbing’ to make the site. Instead of a bunch of editors determining what gets promoted, people post items of interest, why they like them and where to buy them. Other site visitors can see similar items or other items recommended by the poster. Another key aspect of social plumbing is what is called a ‘tag cloud’ for navigation. Since sites such as these have little idea how the site will grow, a tag cloud simply collects all of the keywords used for the items, and then visually weights the popular keywords by making them bigger. Clicking on the keyword will show all items tagged with that category.
I was so interested in the site that I almost missed a screening. I suddenly noticed the time, jumped up from the table and went running through town without the coat that my merchandiser friends asked me to sport around town. When I got back to my room, the coat was sitting on my bed with a note saying: ‘please don’t wear this the next time you speak Piker.’
I’ve been called a certifiable movie nut by my friends. They always know that I can be found at Sundance watching the films. The last few years I have been fortunate enough to be on the judging panels, which is quite a responsibility.
Last year, my dear friend Brad Pitt and I almost got into trouble out here in Park City when we would only speak using the ‘Piker’ Dialect that he used in the great movie ‘Snatch’. I helped him prepare for that movie by spending days on end only speaking in that hard-to-understand accent and bringing him interviews I had done with true ‘Pikers’ from England.
Part of Sundance is merchandisers trying to determine what the fashion trends are this year. Merchandisers are frequently trying to get trendsetter stars to wear a specific brand of sunglasses or winter boots in the hopes that others see this and thus start the trend.
ThisNext.com is a great example of how social networking is moving from buzz phrase to foundation. Social Networking has been popularized by sites such as Facebook and MySpace, where people can build profiles and communicate with each other through the sites. Incredibly popular, and perfect for the Internet. I receive at least ten requests a week from people wanting us to create ‘the next facebook’ for them on a shoestring budget and some stock options.
I was so interested in the site that I almost missed a screening. I suddenly noticed the time, jumped up from the table and went running through town without the coat that my merchandiser friends asked me to sport around town. When I got back to my room, the coat was sitting on my bed with a note saying: ‘please don’t wear this the next time you speak Piker.’
