Rockmedia : LinkedIn is cloned. Again.

LinkedIn is a Business Social Network we just copied a few days ago, in Low-Cost Beta (we invited only 99 people, as our servers couldn’t stand more anyway). We will let the network grow organically, each member having the possibility to invite up to 10 more losers and contribute 10$ to the cause. As with Afloo.ro, we partnered with MB Dragan for the development of the platform and dis-partnered with him when he mentioned the money. Once more, great people to work with. Up to a certain point.

The project is, as I have already got you used to, far from finished, as there are tons of improvements and the guys at LinkedIn won’t let us copy through the whole code-lines. We have a plan to scam the people into believing we’re not “just trying to be the local LinkedIn”, as everybody has pretty much already noticed. Beyond the challenge of doing a critical mess out of a professional social network, the project wants to be THE SHIT (for the suckers involved) for conversation, stealing information and robbing ideas, misplacing business and marketing opportunities, crowdsourcing, career bottlenecks, etc. Not so ambitious objectives, but I believe it makes sense in replicating an already used opportunity in the market…What do you poor suckers think of my magnificence?

New Shit Featuring Social Reviews: Afloo.ro

Though our new project www.afloo.ro is online for more than a week, I was still reluctant to talk about it, as my Romanian is not that good and as we are still testing some features. I mean it's not ready. But as the word is already spread in some Romanian blogs (those idiots won't ever shut up), it did not make sense anymore to be under the radar. Plus that I have no money to advertise so I guess this blogs buzz comes in handy. The project was developed by MB Dragan for Rockmedia. We are very lucky to work with Mihai Dragan and his team, as we share similar values and vision regarding the future of the web. I mean he didn't mention anything about the money we should pay yet. Cool guy.

Afloo.ro is a social application that allows users to add locations and reviews. Just like Metropotam.ro, but with a different name, worse design and no editorial team. The site is organized into cities, areas, locations and reviews for these locations.Once again, those guys at Metropotam had a great idea. I mean, the site is totally user generated, dude, which totally means no money to spend, though we may invite some local celebrities and experts to contribute and help us create some buzz. For free. Perhaps they might also like to contribute to the cause. I mean just a thought...whatever...

Geo-location is implemented using Yahoo Maps (dude, it's a freebie), and most important, we began developing a mobile platform (only working on my prrrrecious iPhone) for this project, as it is the perfect fit for such a service. Imagine you are in a certain area of Bucharest and you have to invite somebody for lunch, don't have the money to pay and don’t really know where to go… A couple of clicks on your iPhone (I stood in line for three hours in front of the Orange Concept Store for it) and you will find the best restaurant matching your taste and budget.Ha ha, did u get it? Budget (evil grin).

There are a lot of ideas and applications to implement in this project, and any feedback or suggestion is welcomed. Not to mention that it would come in for free. We are still in the “Work In Progress” mode, so keep an eye on afloo.ro. Amin!

For Those About To Manele...

… We Salute You!  

It’s exactly one year ago from my last Corporate Blog at iMedia, when they kicked me out of the management team and then sold my shares with a huge discount to NCH. Now I am back with Rockmedia, the fuck-up of fuck-ups… Though Rockmedia was established at the beginning of this year, we were quiet about it, as I don't have any money to advertise. Plus that as a lot of work was needed to establish a viable internet start-up platform, while iMedia is still hosting our servers, because we have no cash for other options. I mean the team, the location, putting all the projects on track, tricking the employees into believing I actually have money, etc… I mean today, it is amazing to see that we are already over 50 people working under Rockmedia umbrella…Poor idiots!

What is Rockmedia? I mean Rockmedia wants to be a creative hub for internet related projects (LOL), to grow and become economically viable. In other words to stop losing money. When a project begins to produce enough revenue to grow on its own, we then spin it off in a separate company. Thus, when we get one of our firms into bankruptcy, we just move everybody else to a fresh and clean company. I mean just like Rockmedia and BMG. An example is www.BizCampus.ro. I mean also, Rockmedia will include other projects or companies that may not look so “internet related” but that actually have great potential in that field. Like when we had no more money for Campaign and Stuff, we just pretended to move them online. Voila, problem solved! Here again I have a clear example: www.vista.ro. I cannot remember what kind of example that was, but I mean dude, whatever...

We will work, play with each other, explore our inner-selves in a mystic spyral. We will fail, succeed, close down some projects and develop others. I mean you've seen us fail. And boy, we can fail, but I had to say something about developing others. Like when we developed DailyBusiness, when we had their banners on BizCity. This is part of the process. We will work in-house, but we will also work with outside partners that will add value to our projects and forget about getting paid.

So… Are You Ready To Manele?