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Made a Simple Twitter-based Player News Aggregator (1 Viewer)

D

daves

Footballguy
Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share a project I've been working on for the last 2 months or so. I came up with the idea as a result of 2 observations:

  • News breaks on Twitter before it hits any other site
  • It's a hassle to find worthwhile, current information on a player via Twitter. It's a lot of noise with very little signal. Try searching 'Peyton Manning' during a Broncos game.

So, here's Gametime Decision. I tried my best to distill the strength of the Twitter platform. I hope you guys enjoy it. Please let me know if you have any feedback/suggestions. I hope it doesn't violate any shark pool rules - there are no ads or anything.

I tried to make it as simple to use as possible, so don't worry if you have 0 Twitter experience. I did the legwork and researched hundreds of NFL journalists & bloggers for it. Just type in the players name and click add. Also, it works on mobile and tablets.

Here's a screenshot of it in action.

Thanks!

Edit: The title was cut off mid sentence. Just edited it to be shorter and less terrible.

-Dave
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks! I'm glad you guys enjoy it.

Let me know if you have any feedback / suggestions. I'm still actively working on it.

 
nice..reminds me of what bleacher report does with their mobile app but this is more of a desktop version.

thanks!

 
How many players can you set up on it? In case some of us have, you know, double-digit injured guys this year? :bag:

 
daves said:
Thanks! I'm glad you guys enjoy it.

Let me know if you have any feedback / suggestions. I'm still actively working on it.
Click to expand...
I added @ChargersRHenne and @annieheilbrunn to the Chargers feeds. I don't know if that gets saved only under my own login or if they're added generally. In the former case, you may want to consider adding them generally.

 
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Right now it's limited to 9 players.

I could bump that number up but it would at the cost of the refresh rate. As of now it refreshes every minute. I tried to make up for it making it easy to add/drop players.

If I increased that number to 15, I'd have to make the refresh rate at least 90 seconds. Would that still be bearable for you guys?

 
Maurile Tremblay said:
daves said:
Thanks! I'm glad you guys enjoy it.

Let me know if you have any feedback / suggestions. I'm still actively working on it.
Click to expand...
I added @ChargersRHenne and @annieheilbrunn to the Chargers feeds. I don't know if that gets saved only under my own login or if they're added generally. In the former case, you may want to consider adding them generally.
Click to expand...
Yea, those changes are just saved to your account. But I could definitely add those to the default sources list.

 
daves said:
Right now it's limited to 9 players.

I could bump that number up but it would at the cost of the refresh rate. As of now it refreshes every minute. I tried to make up for it making it easy to add/drop players.

If I increased that number to 15, I'd have to make the refresh rate at least 90 seconds. Would that still be bearable for you guys?
Click to expand...
Gotcha. Seems perfectly reasonable - if you're waiting to find out about more than 9 players on a particular Sunday, you're f'd anyway.

Faster refresh rate is probably better. And it is extremely easy to add/drop.

 
daves said:
Right now it's limited to 9 players.

I could bump that number up but it would at the cost of the refresh rate. As of now it refreshes every minute. I tried to make up for it making it easy to add/drop players.

If I increased that number to 15, I'd have to make the refresh rate at least 90 seconds. Would that still be bearable for you guys?
Click to expand...
I think the ease of adding/removing players obviates the need for listing a lot of players all at one time. JMHO.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
daves said:
Thanks! I'm glad you guys enjoy it.

Let me know if you have any feedback / suggestions. I'm still actively working on it.
Click to expand...
What terms does it search by? If I am trying to find updates for Fred Jackson, does both "Fred" and "Jackson" have to be in the Tweet? What if someone calls him FJax or uses his twitter handle?

 
tjnc09 said:
daves said:
Thanks! I'm glad you guys enjoy it.

Let me know if you have any feedback / suggestions. I'm still actively working on it.
Click to expand...
What terms does it search by? If I am trying to find updates for Fred Jackson, does both "Fred" and "Jackson" have to be in the Tweet? What if someone calls him FJax or uses his twitter handle?
Click to expand...
By default it just searches "Jackson". I do have a nickname system built-in where I can add other search terms in certain cases (I.E. Searching 'LeBron' instead of 'James' because that's generally how people refer to him or 'Demaryius' instead of 'Thomas' because he has the same last name as Julius).

In any case, I try to adapt to whatever name the team journalists usually use.

 
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Long Ball Larry said:
aM I missing something? No Adrian Peterson?

Nor Ray Rice.
Click to expand...
Sorry about that. I wrote a program to take the rosters off of the NFL.com team sites and AP was listed in a special 'exempt' class I didn't know existed. I'll add him in right now. And Ray Rice isn't currently on an NFL roster.

Edit: Just added in Peterson

 
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Looks awesome.

A suggestion for dealing with the refresh rate thing while allowing more players... would be allow someone to save a list of players and easily swap them in and out of the 9 active players without typing names to go back to them each time.

Even save them in groups. So I could have this group of 9 for one fantasy team and another group of 9 for another fantasy team, and just clicking makes that group of 9 the active ones that get refreshed, the rest are just stored names, no active twitter feed.

 
Greg Russell said:
Looks awesome.

A suggestion for dealing with the refresh rate thing while allowing more players... would be allow someone to save a list of players and easily swap them in and out of the 9 active players without typing names to go back to them each time.

Even save them in groups. So I could have this group of 9 for one fantasy team and another group of 9 for another fantasy team, and just clicking makes that group of 9 the active ones that get refreshed, the rest are just stored names, no active twitter feed.
Click to expand...
Yes! I was thinking of something like this for people who use the site for more than one sport (football, basketball, hockey). I didn't think to use it for people with multiple fantasy teams. Good call. I'm hoping to add something like this soon.

 
1) I don't know if possible, but maybe you can give the user the option to save more players at a lower refresh rate. I know 90 seconds vs 60 seconds is nothing and I'd prefer more players. I can see how others wouldn't. Is that something you can allow the user to decide?

2) You need to get this into a mobile app.

3) You seriously need to profit from this. I'd strongly consider some kind of copyright on this (if possible) and/or look into some kind of partnership. In particular, if you turn this into a mobile app, you can and should profit from this.

 
gianmarco said:
1) I don't know if possible, but maybe you can give the user the option to save more players at a lower refresh rate. I know 90 seconds vs 60 seconds is nothing and I'd prefer more players. I can see how others wouldn't. Is that something you can allow the user to decide?

2) You need to get this into a mobile app.

3) You seriously need to profit from this. I'd strongly consider some kind of copyright on this (if possible) and/or look into some kind of partnership. In particular, if you turn this into a mobile app, you can and should profit from this.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the feedback! I appreciate it. I worked hard on this so the positive feedback means a lot to me.

1) I've thought about this and it's definitely a possibility. I've tried to keep the site as simple as possible but I may have to do something like this to accommodate all of the different uses for the site.

2) I'd like to do this at some point. I chose a javascript framework that converts well to mobile (using http://ionicframework.com/).

3) I'm an unemployed recent college grad with student loans so that'd be fantastic haha. But still, that's a ways down the road. To my knowledge, patents are expensive and aren't effective for non-radically-novel websites so the only option is to build the best product.

 
daves said:
Thanks! I'm glad you guys enjoy it.

Let me know if you have any feedback / suggestions. I'm still actively working on it.
Click to expand...
Very impressive. Could you make it so the entire tweet shows so people don't have be taken to Twitter to read the rest?

 
Let me also add that this doesn't need to be limited to "gametime" information. This is helpful for anything regarding any specific player. This could be a link that could be useful for ANY fantasy site. Similar to how you click on a player currently at MFL and get a Rotoworld take or KFFL take, you can have your own link that provides this service.

This could be useful to Yahoo, ESPN, MFL, or any other fantasy hosting site as a new "service" that provides player information.

You need to run, not walk, and get some help on extending what you've created here and getting paid for it. It's simple yet brilliant and very well executed so far.

 
It looks similar to janetter, tweet deck and some others. That said, those are some of the best twitter apps so kudos to you for joining them.

 
Man this is so cool. I hate cluttering my Twitter acct with all the beat writers just to look for info on 1 player. While adding more players is nice option, I have no problem deleting a guy & adding someone I'm concerned with, and I'm in 4 leagues. When I have a GTD player I'm constantly refreshing the shark pool & hunting around for info. This is awesome & you deserve to profit from this. Entrepreneur 101 - find a problem & solve it. Well done. (I'll happily write a testimonial for lifetime membership) :D

 
gianmarco said:
You need to run, not walk, and get some help on extending what you've created here and getting paid for it. It's simple yet brilliant and very well executed so far.
Click to expand...
Yep. People who can profit from stealing the idea will with no remorse.

 
just played around with this more, just a really awesome idea OP.

i think you should have maybe shopped it around or found ways to protect it before posting on there though. would really suck to have someone steal the idea and profit from it without you being compensated.

 
Henry Ford said:
daves said:
gianmarco said:
1) I don't know if possible, but maybe you can give the user the option to save more players at a lower refresh rate. I know 90 seconds vs 60 seconds is nothing and I'd prefer more players. I can see how others wouldn't. Is that something you can allow the user to decide?

2) You need to get this into a mobile app.

3) You seriously need to profit from this. I'd strongly consider some kind of copyright on this (if possible) and/or look into some kind of partnership. In particular, if you turn this into a mobile app, you can and should profit from this.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the feedback! I appreciate it. I worked hard on this so the positive feedback means a lot to me.

1) I've thought about this and it's definitely a possibility. I've tried to keep the site as simple as possible but I may have to do something like this to accommodate all of the different uses for the site.

2) I'd like to do this at some point. I chose a javascript framework that converts well to mobile (using http://ionicframework.com/).

3) I'm an unemployed recent college grad with student loans so that'd be fantastic haha. But still, that's a ways down the road. To my knowledge, patents are expensive and aren't effective for non-radically-novel websites so the only option is to build the best product.
Click to expand...
You should contact the Sunday Ticket design/coding team in NYC. I'm very serious. And right now is the time.
Click to expand...
To further expand on this, they're looking for application ideas - I know this for certain - at this very moment.
 
While you have let the cat out of the bag i'd almost recommend you delete this thread OP. The longer it stays up the more people will see it increasing the risk of your idea getting stolen.

 
Henry Ford said:
Henry Ford said:
daves said:
gianmarco said:
1) I don't know if possible, but maybe you can give the user the option to save more players at a lower refresh rate. I know 90 seconds vs 60 seconds is nothing and I'd prefer more players. I can see how others wouldn't. Is that something you can allow the user to decide?

2) You need to get this into a mobile app.

3) You seriously need to profit from this. I'd strongly consider some kind of copyright on this (if possible) and/or look into some kind of partnership. In particular, if you turn this into a mobile app, you can and should profit from this.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the feedback! I appreciate it. I worked hard on this so the positive feedback means a lot to me.

1) I've thought about this and it's definitely a possibility. I've tried to keep the site as simple as possible but I may have to do something like this to accommodate all of the different uses for the site.

2) I'd like to do this at some point. I chose a javascript framework that converts well to mobile (using http://ionicframework.com/).

3) I'm an unemployed recent college grad with student loans so that'd be fantastic haha. But still, that's a ways down the road. To my knowledge, patents are expensive and aren't effective for non-radically-novel websites so the only option is to build the best product.
Click to expand...
You should contact the Sunday Ticket design/coding team in NYC. I'm very serious. And right now is the time.
Click to expand...
To further expand on this, they're looking for application ideas - I know this for certain - at this very moment.
Click to expand...
OP in case you don't know this guy (Henry Ford) is legit certified good guy. If he says the above listen.
 
Thanks for all of the kind feedback, guys. I initially released this (football only) more than a week ago before rushing to expand it to basketball and hockey. I know a few people have since messaged me saying they had a similar idea but didn't act on it (not from this board). I felt it was important to get it out online as soon as I could with the best quality possible.

The # of users has grown exponentially since release and I've been happy to see that the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. It's entirely possible that people will make copycats, but I'm maybe naive in thinking that if enough people use it and enjoy it those imitators won't have room to grow.

 
Kool-Aid Larry said:
you can use fancloud to search players, but i'll admit it's a little broken
Click to expand...
Yea, there's a few sites that do something similar to fancloud (aggregating sports writer tweets, normally on a whole team basis) . First time I've heard of fancloud, though. I'm curious as to why none of these sites chose to cater to the fantasy football crowd.

 
Thanks guys. Again, let me know if you have any suggestions or anything. I just added Jonas Gray to the site roster after someone told me he was missing.

 
daves said:
Thanks guys. Again, let me know if you have any suggestions or anything. I just added Jonas Gray to the site roster after someone told me he was missing.
Click to expand...
Have you talked to anyone about how to profit from this? Don't let someone steal your idea. I would still take the advice to have this thread deleted until you secure the idea in your name.

Other than that, allow the user to add names/nicknames themselves. Gray is a perfect example where you want to know information before everyone else. Latavius Murray might be another one for the next few weeks. Same with nicknames, impossible for you to catch all of them.

 
daves said:
Thanks guys. Again, let me know if you have any suggestions or anything. I just added Jonas Gray to the site roster after someone told me he was missing.
Click to expand...
Very cool site. One minor suggestion would be to link the tweets themselves. Sometimes it's interesting to open up the tweet to see if it was part of a conversation, in response to something or if there were any replies.

 
The Goose is Loose said:
daves said:
Thanks guys. Again, let me know if you have any suggestions or anything. I just added Jonas Gray to the site roster after someone told me he was missing.
Click to expand...
Very cool site. One minor suggestion would be to link the tweets themselves. Sometimes it's interesting to open up the tweet to see if it was part of a conversation, in response to something or if there were any replies.
Click to expand...
Thanks! The date / time below the text of each Tweet is actually a link to do just that.

 
First of all, let me echo what everyone else is saying about how great a tool this is. You've identified a key need for fantasy users and created a solution.

As for career advice, I'm going to differ from the people recommending you try to patent this idea, yank the thread, etc. The idea is great, but it's probably not all that defensible. If one of the Big Boys decides they want to do something like this, I'm sure they could throw it together in-house. Besides, based on the (very limited) information you've presented about yourself here, you don't sound like you have a burning desire to become an entrepreneur, and without that, it'll be tough to succeed as one.

What I would recommend, especially given that you're an unemployed recent grad, is that instead of selling your idea, you use it to sell yourself. If you want to work for one of the fantasy businesses, try to make some contacts at companies you'd like to work for and say, "I'd love to break into the business. Here's this cool tool I built. Curious to hear your thoughts." That will separate you out from the typical networking contacts they get, and they will hopefully recognize that you're a smart guy who has some initiative, which is exactly what most people are looking for when they hire entry-level roles.

When Sylvester Stallone first wrote the script for "Rocky", the studios all wanted to give him a lot of money for it. But he held out -- and ultimately took less money -- until they agreed to cast him as the lead. Looking back over his career as an actor vs. that as a screenwriter, I'd say that was a smart decision on his part. :-)

You're your best asset. Sell yourself.

 
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