I’ve been continuing my musings on a social network for entertainment industry professionals. The more I think about it, the more I am seeing that the current social networks do not serve the entertainment industry well. Sites like LinkedIn are work well for people in traditional industries, but for people like actors, dancers, and other entertainment industry professions, LinkedIn fails.
Social Networks like Linkedin or Facebook become too cluttered with other information and applications and don’t provide ways for people in the industry to properly connect. I guess the real problem is that they are not focused on what people in the industry might want or need. And why should they? Sites like Linkedin and Facebook aren’t really for us. They are for other people. People who have “normal” careers.
So, what would a social network for people in the entertainment industry be? What features should it have? A few that I can think of off the top of my head:
- Discussion groups
- Easily updated resumes
- Photo gallery
- Twitter/Google Buzz/Status.net integration
- Email notifications (and the ability to turn them on or off)
- Simple way of connecting with others
- Such a network should also be simple to navigate and use. Ideally, anyone who was familiar with Facebook or Myspace would have no trouble in using it.
- Should be focused on network rather than the social.
What other features should a social network for people in the entertainment industry have?