Entrepreneurial idea, week two

This weeks focus is on getting the message out regarding my idea. Of course, I think I have a pretty solid product on my hands, but without bouncing the ideas off potential consumers, it will be difficult to know where the strengths and weaknesses of my proposal lie. The best way to do this in today's environment is Twitter.

In class, we discussed the power of the social networking site and how easy it is to use as an expanded marketplace. In essence, it's free advertising for your product. In using Prof. Rubin's advice, I will create a specific account for my product and begin marketing it through Twitter. This means Tweeting @ new media users, software people and newspaper enthusiasts to build a buzz.

The beauty of using Twitter to market my product is that anyone can see it at any time. If someone is randomly browsing another person's Twitter page and catches my idea he'll instantly be able to check out my product's page and Web site. Also, people will be able to interact with me directly by using the @ feature or by direct messaging. This way they can provide instant feedback and help me tweak the end product and make it more viable.

Entrepreneurial idea, week one

In today's media landscape, personalization is becoming more prevalent than ever before. With an increase in choice and access, people are paying attention to the news that exclusively peaks their interests and leaving the rest behind. Consequently, though, it is effecting some facets of the media industry itself as newspapers and small-market television stations struggle to keep up.

For all intents and purposes, this blog will focus exclusively on newspapers though, and the creation of an idea that may help them become more viable in an increasingly tech-savvy world. The reason they are worth saving is simple: no matter how sleek it seems to read news online, there is still a large facet of the public that enjoys the experience of reading a newspaper with their morning coffee (for example).

So, my idea is to combine America's increasing love of simplicity and personalization and apply it to the newspaper industry. Through a Web program and a home printer, I want to create software that allows users to completely customize their news, i.e. select from which sources they would like each of their sections to come from (News from The New York Times, sports from USA Today, and local news from The Post-Standard) and aggregate it on one, easy to print home edition.

The goal is to create software that will, after time, hone in on user interests further and further until user specifications are no longer needed, while maintaining a simple, easy to use interface.