Flixster

A trendy specialised social network called Flixster has seen phenomenal growth over the last few months. Flixster (www.flixster.com) is a site devoted to movies and actors. It was founded in January 2006 by Joe Greenstein and Saran Chari and is based in San Francisco, California.

Along with being able to search for trailers, reviews, and discuss movies, members can also add friends to utilize the ever-updated database of movies and actors. The current member base of the site has gone above 10 million users worldwide with a respectable ranking (Alexa) of 1,047. There are extensive quizzes that users can take to test their movie knowledge, and you can even create your own quizzes. It is a great resource for a movie buff. So whether you would want to view movie bits and trailers or read great reviews, Flixster could be a true companion who would suggest which films to watch and which ones to miss. It also gives you an option to meet people who generally like similar movies, or who share the same favourite movie or actor.

Sneak peek of Flixster Features:

• View movie trailers and read reviews
• Rate and review movies yourself
• Find out your movie friends based on movie preferences you have in common
• Share pictures and video clips
• Create your own lists of favourite movies and movies you would like to see
• Be a part of different fan clubs based on your taste
• Read celebrity gossip and movie news

Movie lovers get movies, actors, photos, news, reviews, ratings, previews, quizzes, showtimes (only for US based users) and of course social networking. The infrastructure of the site is quite simple but contains hugs chunks of information crammed on pages like the movie and the actor profiles.

The movie cover, ratings, reviews and similar movies occupy the top portion of the movie profile. The photos of the actors, as well as photos from the movie and the preview, are listed below. You can also see all the fans of the movie and, of course, read the reviews. The next major tab in Flixster is ‘Actors’. Each actor has a page that packs an impressive amount of information, including bio, pictures, clips, news, filmography and of course fans. The Movies and Actors tabs are followed by News, Personal Profile, Friends, Browse Users and Fun Stuff tabs. Each of these is interesting and useful.

Another fascinating feature is that each movie can have many skins. The skins are created by Flixster users and are available to be applied to the movie by other users. This is a fun and playful way for users to express their emotions towards a movie. Flixster has social media applications on Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, and Orkut, and apps on iPhone and iGoogle. There are forums, wikis, and even Flixter IM powered by Meebo. In short, one can say that Flixster a one-stop shop for our entire movie needs.