What was I being social for? None of my friends ever signed up or came to any of these sites. Clicker had a bit more "socialness" due to their heavy, and automated, Facebook integration brought to you by Instant Personalization. Philo was more social than Miso and Clicker because it is set up well for live TV with schedules and channels so that you can interact with others while the show was going on.
I had thought at a minimum one of these would be a good history of what I had watched, but found my Netflix account offered the same and of course is much more stable (not a start-up company). Putting so much time into a new service can hurt when it goes under or when it is bought and closed by another larger player. I have become used to that and it is an acceptable risk.
Therefore, after finding minimal value for myself, I stopped updating or checking in to these websites and/or mobile applications. I still keep an eye on them because I love the idea and there is a future for it. My hope is that one of these will be gobbled up and integrated into a current larger service. One day a new service will take down the giants, like the giants of today took down others, but for today you need to be with Facebook, Twitter, and somewhat Google to get a large enough audience to make something truly social.
Some forward thinking: These sites are very specific services and the challenge is great to get a users to use many different services, websites, and mobile applications for each social thing (movies, food, check-ins, etc.) The company that gets them all under one roof integrated with each other wins. I am talking about the larger user base, this scattered format is ok for the techies. Even if some of these sites do not survive in their current form we can not overlook their contribution and innovation; they drive the web forward every day. Startups and risk are needed; don't ever be discouraged by the big dogs on the porch!
Predications: Miso will be formally bought and merged with Google; Google Ventures gives them a lot of funding. Clicker may stay where it is, Facebook gets good data and Clicker gets good traffic, but a purchase of Clicker by Facebook could be possible down the road. Philo will keep going until the money runs out or they are bought by another TV/movie check-in service. (Update, August 4, 2011, LocalResponse has acquired Philo.)
There are many more services that do this than the ones above. Do you use Philo, Miso, Clicker, or any other website/app to check-in? Which one? What are you thoughts on the future of the media check-in revolution?
More information on the companies listed in this post:
Clicker - http://www.crunchbase.com/company/clicker
Miso - http://www.crunchbase.com/product/miso
Philo - http://www.crunchbase.com/company/philo
Hey Dain,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great article even though you have a grim prediction for us at PHILO. I love the fact that I get a 360 user perspective about the heavy hitters in the social field. Regardless of which company you check-in with or like the most, we share the common sentiment that the social TV field is exciting and will evolve into something that will benefit the users greatly.
Have a good day and keep reporting on the social TV field and what ever you like. Good work.
-Lavall