MovieLaLa: A Social Network for Movie Fans That Merges Fandom, Data Analysis, Social Sharing and Geo-Location

One of the most promising aspects of the web for film marketers is the potential to market films to a niche audience.

Already recommendation algorithms have helped to power Netflix's rise - using data analysis to match unique users to content.

But the art and science of identifying the users most likely to respond to certain films - and the tools for spreading movie marketing messages through each user's social network - are still in their infancy. 

Which is why some indie filmmakers and web-savvy film marketers are paying attention to  a newly launched social media platform - MovieLaLa - that might just offer a better way to exploit (and I use that word intentionally) the social networks of potential fans. 

As described in a May 13th, 2014 post to The Hollywood Reporter, MovieLaLa  is "a social network for movie fans and a potential movie marketing platform for studios."

Available now for the iPad (with other versions promised soon), MovieLaLa will track user film preferences - using that data to offer trailers and other  targeted content - coupled with some innovative techniques for leveraging social spread. 

The secret sauce that could make MovieLaLa a "better mousetrap" for the sharing of marketing messages is the way that MovieLaLa will integrate data with Facebook and geo-location - e.g., encouraging fans to invite certain friends to nearby screenings. In other words, it is isn't just the algorithms that analyze user preferences (Netflix is already doing amazing things - tracking what users say they prefer and how they actually behave as films are streamed), MovieLaLa wants to integrate each user's movie enthusiasms with better social media analysis and sharing. Instead of just using predictive algorithms based on individualized user information - the kind of data-crunching that already makes those creepy personalized online ads possible - MovieLaLa could also make it easier to share trailers with your friends - and perhaps even suggest which friends might be available to see a film this Friday and might be most likely to share your enthusiasm for Nic Cage.

MovieLaLa may not harness all the available tools, but it's clearly a step closer to the optimization of contextual information - like geo-location -  for movie marketing. 

When users sign up for free apps and agree to share info - including info about their friends - can anyone doubt that big media companies will soon be using that data to predict which "friends" will most likely want to see a new film?