So when I first heard about FutureYear and how they billed themselves as “Twitter For The Future,” I had to take a step back and actually check it out. They weren’t implying that they were the next Twitter, but rather a social network for things that haven’t happened yet.
I poked around a bit and found out that the social network combines birthdays, events, and even forward-thinking historical tidbits about that particular day. Users are posting about graduating from college, holidays, starting vacations, and even startup events. Unlike Facebook it takes a microblogging approach to this information, and other users can join in the conversation.
Like Twitter, FutureYear users post in 140 characters or less in what they call “Sparks.” A spark can also include a location tag or a photo.
We got a chance to talk with FutureYear cofounder Nick Howland. Check out our interview below.
What is your startup called?
FutureYear http://futureyear.com
What does your company do?
FutureYear is a social network focused purely on the future tense of the lives of people, celebrities, and brands. As the name suggests, we focus on the year ahead, the next 365 days. The best way to describe us is ‘Twitter for the future’ – ‘What’s happening this year…’
Who are the founders, and what are their backgrounds:
Nick Howland, CEO, is a web development and marketing specialist who has been involved in setting up several online businesses. Nick has been responsible for the product development strategy, website development, marketing and branding of the website.
Kevin Griffiths is degree and master’s degree qualified and has for the past 11 years has run software and technology companies working in various sectors and with large blue-chip organisations.
Gavin Donlon has founded and owns several Internet businesses. Gavin has a strong vision for the product and adds value to the features and usability of the site.
Gary Aston has spent the past 30 years working in the technology sector and has tremendous expertise in software development, collecting, storing, manipulating, and reporting on huge volumes of data.
Where are you based?
Newcastle-under-Lyme, England, UK
What problem do you solve?
Discover what your friends, inspirational people and favourite brands have planned for the next day, week, month, or year. Immerse yourself with what’s happening around the world, or get involved locally, all on a particular day in the future year. Our aim is to make the future more open and data rich, so that people can make informed decisions on what to do in their future.
Why now?
There is a gap in social networking that we recognised in late 2010. Facebook focuses on the past, connecting past friends made and memories. Twitter is all about now, what’s happening now. Foursquare is about location discovery in the present, now. Our focus is to fill the gap in the social spectrum, FutureYear’s focus is on the future.
What are some of the milestones your startup has already reached?
We’re now in version 0.3 of our beta launch. Our site uses responsive design and can be accessed from any device – desktop, mobile, or tablet. Having launched only a few weeks ago we already have a growing and engaged userbase of 700 users from around the world.
What are your next milestones?
To release native iOS and Android apps and to grow our userbase internationally.
Where can people find out more? Any social media links you want to share?
Website – http://futureyear.com
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/futureyear
Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/futureyear
Tumblr – http://futureyear.tumblr.com/
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