The other day Arun sent me this invite to check out their latest trend-tracking application- mymuv and today I finally got to take it for a spin.
I wasn't even remotely sure of what to expect but just as I keyed in the invitation code, I must say I found it pretty slick. I'd refrain from using the word web2.0 here for all the uncoolness that's now associated with the word but it's one of the best "next web" application we've seen from India.
The Idea
Lets begin by calling it a memedigger for trends. The whole idea is simple. Lifestyles change. The trends around you always change. So what do you do? You set a trend, or make a "muv" and let others rate it as cool or uncool, post comments on it, discuss the trends. As "mymuv Dilberts" put it, "you get to be cool! set trends. track trends. and tell others, what you think of their muvs!"
For example, if you're making a muv from a PC to a Mac, you'd mark this changing trend as PC
≈ Mac. And then people can click on either PC or Mac to show what trend have they followed and share their thoughts on it. Now this whole ratings/comments/discussion stuff essentially transforms mymuv into a wonderful direct comparison tool as you compare "apples to apples, and not peaches". This makes mymuv an excellent option to take a look at the emerging trends, compare them, take in what others have got to say and finally decide. The folks at muvblog have put up this image to illustrate how exactly does the muv thing works:
The Interface
mymuv provides an excellent feature set with a great UI to enable trend tracking and build a social community around it. On first looks, the UI appears very neat. It's all there- gradients, rounded corners, lively colours and even a mascot Treemy- an Asian Arowana fish!
For all its features, I found it pretty usable but still it could do with some changes. I felt that the area around a muv looks all crammed up. The idea I think is to show a comment each for muvs in either directions but maybe that's making it look a bit cluttered. But on the whole layout is clean with the sidebar holding the tags and the buddy list and the map locating the trendsetters placed just above the comments on the muv details page.
MyMuv- Homepage Screenshot It remains to be seen just how well do people take to this trend-digging, and just how profitable this idea turns out to be but overall the concept is pretty interesting and exciting. Registrations for Mymuv would be open anytime this week and so you can expect to get muving real soon. And do let me know what you guys think.
Comments
nyways me desperatly waitin to see how mant ppl like me have moved to maruti frm merc :D
And dude, patience has never been your forte, has it?
I'd say -
Yesterday -> Today -> Tomorrow and you know what continues..
he he
Lemme add in one more that comes to my mind -
Crush -> Taken -> Committed -> (Together) ->Probably getting married -> Probably happy ever after.
make a guess now where the muv's would stop :P
Seems like an interesting concept but then, what is it that the common masses would gain - Yeah, integrating such a thing with Say baazee.com or say online shopping sites, this thing would turn to be great - right?
And I am sure like all others, mymuv would also be banking on contextual ads for monetization.
We are thinking about revenue streams including product feeds. But they are not really our primary concerns.
Concern is how efficintly mymuv can serve people. We are introducing couple of 'tools' for the same purpose.