Comments on: Spout.com, the Flickrization of Movie Search

By: web movie pedia Spout, The Flickrization of Movie Search

web movie pedia Spout, The Flickrization of Movie Search — Mon, 16 May 2011 23:13:18 +0000

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By: Spout, The Flickrization of Movie Search | watch online films

Spout, The Flickrization of Movie Search | watch online films — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 00:52:38 +0000

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By: high equivalency test

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By: Julie

Julie — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 20:32:00 +0000

Funny, I barely notice the tags when I’m on Spout, see them more as interesting word-poems or wall art. But I do get caught up reading the lists of people whose tastes are similar to mine. In just a few visits my “I want to see it” list is so much bigger and better and more interesting. That’s addictive. I do work with Spout, so perhaps understand the site better than the casual visitor. But I know they’re user testing to make its best uses more obvious. Maybe Netflix should just hand over their million-dollar bounty to these guys?

By: mattbg

mattbg — Wed, 17 May 2006 06:27:00 +0000

Davis, I like the idea of Spout, but I've already had a browse through at some of the tags and I don't know if it's going to work.

The tags that really do work are little more than genre tags

The things that really attract people to movies at a deep level can't be expressed with keywords, or at least not keywords that can be shared amongst other people. You might absolutely love one particular "coming of age" (tag) movie while being indifferent to others. I don't find tags reliable. If it can't be done with music (Pandora, Last.fm, etc. don't work, IMO), movies are an even bigger challenge. You need a combination of refined tags, and the more refined your tags become, the less likely someone will use the same descriptive words.

I wonder how much better tags are as compared to just finding a collection of movie reviewers who have very similar tastes to your own, and using their movie ratings as a guide?

I've already seen tags like "pretentious" and "pudding boobs" being used to tag movies on Spout. What good is that?

By: Davis Freeberg

Davis Freeberg — Tue, 16 May 2006 18:40:00 +0000

I think that there are different benefits for all types of users. IMDB is a great resource for films, but it's pretty bad if you want to explore new films. Spout's tagging system is designed more for you to go to your favorite films and then explore other films that might have similar sub characters that you enjoy. As a casual user of Spout you'll probably get the most benefit by using the user generated content to find you favorite films.

I don't have an IMDB account and with Netflix capping me at 500 discs, there is a real benefit for me to use the service more extensively. By keeping track of lists, I can build a queue outside of Netflix that is independent of any "Netflix Reccomendation" that could be based more on profits and less on refined search.

If you take the service one level further and participate in the groups and blogging, you'll find that Spout offers a community benefit for those most involved. While this isn't appealling to everyone, there are a lot of people who find that common movies can create great friendships.

I think the key to Spout is to decide what your needs are and to use it appropriately. If I want to find new films I can use Spout and if I need hard facts and history about a film, that the IMDB will be the first place I go.

By: mattbg

mattbg — Tue, 16 May 2006 11:00:00 +0000

It’s a nice idea, and I’ll probably browse it every so often, but I won’t use it until it’s been bought by Amazon and integrated into IMDB.

I already maintain personal information in two online movie databases (IMDB and the online rental service that I use), and I don’t need to have the hassle of keeping track of a third.