A couple of days ago, I made the mistake of going back to the student organization mentioned in my last submission. I got an e-mail a couple of days ago with a new mobile app project that sounds like fun (read: brewing WTF). The WTF in this case does not lie with the student organization this time, but with the people who submitted the app idea.
@E-Mail said:
This app provides people a way to comment on what they read, hear, see, or watch on news sites, using twitter as a more convenient, mobile friendly way to interact with local news. The convenience and ubiquity of twitter provides news consumers an easier way to talk about local issues. Twitter is also used fervently by younger demographics with mobile devices that can access the Internet. This app could increase the news consumption of the much-sought-after youth demographic.
So, what's wrong here?
- How do you tell what news to give them? By their current location or the city they used to create their Twitter account.
- How is this app more convenient than say, the Share feature on most news websites?
- In rural areas, most people will use another way to access the internet most of the time instead of their mobile devices due to crappy reception.
- Third party Twitter apps have a sweet 100,000 user limit and therefore your outreach is inherently limited.
@E-Mail said:
How to use it:
After viewing a news piece online users have the ability to comment on it using a built in twitter posting system. This system will generate location-based hashtags determined by state, then city. Once the hashtags are generated, users can either add more tags or simply compose the rest of their tweet. The goal of this system is to make local news more accessible by improving organization and making searches more efficient.
How it will work:
Users will login to their twitter profile before commenting on a story. Once logged in, the URL of the story, and the location hashtags will generate. Users can then post their comment, sending the comment to both the news site’s page and twitter.
Soooo, why do we need to post to both the site's comment feed and Twitter at the same time? Why not have a unique story hashtag and only post to Twitter or selectively share comments to Twitter?
So here's where the fun begins.
@E-Mail said:
After the $media_conference the $org_name $group_name was brought on to develop the ideas featured in the $app_name app. One of the more innovative ideas developed in these discussions was a service that makes commenting on local news easier. Many local news services rely on clicks and comments to measure the reach of their stories. Unfortunately, the discussions on these comment boards are not always concise or relevant to the subject matter. This problem is seen frequently on local news sites.
Unfortunately people can be extremely polarized in their views and will not be able to always be concise or relevant in their comments, since we all know that MICROSOFT WINDOWS IS THE GR8EST OS EVAR MADE!!!!11!1!1 (note: this does not reflect my views. We all know Linux is better.)
@E-Mail said:
Users will write their comment just as they always do on a news site. However, the author of the story will designate two hashtags, one location tag i.e. #LNKNE, and another that would describe the overall subject of the story i.e. #heatwave. These tags will be generated into each comment made by users. Users can add more tags if they choose or they can simply write their post. A link to the story will also be generated if they choose to share their post to social media. After the post is written users can choose from two different options, share to Facebook, and share to twitter. If they choose to post to twitter their post will be cut off at 140 characters.
Don't want to post to Twitter? That's okay, we support Facebook as well. I think we are starting to venture into [url="http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/The_Complicator_0x27_s_Gloves.aspx"]complicated glove[/url] territory. Also, I didn't know my phone has the ability to perform unstructured content analysis and provide a concise hashtag to describe said content. Even if done server side, it's still overly complex and insane. To top that all off, who doesn't like uncompleted s
@E-Mail said:
Each comment made using this system will automatically go into an offsite feed where users can search tags and see what other comments are being posted locally. This feed will be on its own website. The generated hashtags and story link will be the categorization system for the site. So, if users want to see other things people are commenting on locally, this site is the best place to do so. Along with searching posts, users can comment within the site on both stories and other users' comments.
This system makes local news more relevant by making it more integrated with mobile, social media. The comment hub site will also be designed mobile first so that it's more accessible to people away from the desktop. Unfortunately not every news outlet will have a mobile site where commenting is easy so this comment hub would be a good place to go if you're looking for a quick way to browse local news stories.
Sooo, sounds like we got some Not Invented Here syndrome going on here. Why not search Facebook or Twitter for the hashtags? Why not have the feed in the mobile app as well? I can see the website for devices that don't have a mobile app and for the desktop.
What's that you say? Mobile first for the website? Oookay, since most mobile users either have Android or iOS, why not use the mobile app instead of the website on those devices? Don't leave out uses who use laptops and desktops, not to mention tablets.
@E-Mail said:
This service is currently being developed by myself, a student coder, and a student journalist. We’ve wireframed both the commenting system, and the comment archive and will start the design process later this week.
THAT explains everything and why that this app, if it could shoot an arrow or a gun, couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. With a laser sight. At point blank range. I know that we don't denigrate students here, but seriously, three college students and not one ounce of "Do we even need this?" I think I posted this because it took a while for me to understand it and wanted people to know why most of our managers are like this and why this circle will never end.