startupi

Continuing the coverage of web startups from FGV Latin Moot Corp (a business plan competition), the second presentation of the day was for CineDica. The idea is to offer a social network for lovers of cinema, in which users send and receive suggestions for films to see based on their profile. Other paid services are also aggregated in CineDica.As of now the service has listed just under four thousand films. That’s pretty good, but the main problem I found was that all the content is closed. Okay, registration is free, but there’s still a barrier to accessing the content. Login is a huge barrier. Moreover, one of the standard growth strategies is SEO - being found by Google. With the content locked behind a login, that’s not going to happen.

Another thing I thought was odd was that the site doesn’t accept comments. I think one of the best forms of recommendation - and recommendations is one of the main purposes of CineDica - is to know what others thought about the films. It makes a lot of sense especially for a service that has user generated content.

I am a cinephile, I have a blog about film. I find all types of content on the subject interesting. I think the main thing CineDica needs to do is open up their content. Leave registration for those who want additional features and services, like sending film recommendations or accessing paid features.

But really, I understand the motive for keeping the content behind a login. CineDica needs the navigation data to offer recommendations. Finding a balance here will be the big challenge for the developer of this idea, Fernando Aranha of PUC-Rio.