Empoprise-BI in January 2012 - Remember SOPA?

I really should have done this earlier.

You know, it's really cool to do all sorts of retrospective stuff as a blogger, and if you do it just right, you can get a bunch of hits on your back catalog of posts.

So I'm going to jump on the bandwagon now and pick out posts that I wrote earlier in the year with the hopes that millions of people will go back to those posts and I'll be ranked as one of the top bloggers in this galaxy.

But I probably waited too long to do this. I'm not even sure if I'll be able to get to March.

Well, let's start with January.

But first I have to throw down some ancient history on you.

Remember SOPA?

Remember how your life was going to change because of SOPA?

And remember how when THE PEOPLE brought SOPA down to defeat, this meant that Hollywood would play nice with everyone and things would be wonderful?

OK, so maybe you don't remember it ending like that. Perhaps you don't remember SOPA. But I, along with every other good blogger, was writing about it in January 2012, primarily writing derogatory notes about ineffective moves. (Remember how GoDaddy went bankrupt? You don't?)

But I ran across some things that suggested something better, and talked about them in my post Reddit and Y Combinator - this may be an effective move.

Reddit, for example, was looking at boycotting movies from the major studios. While this really didn't pan out, it at least had some potential because of the knowledge that Reddit users have about how websites work.

Imagine that SuperDuperStudio posts a YouTube trailer for its forthcoming blockbuster movie, Explosions and Girls in Bikinis (in 3-D)!!!! You see, when that trailer gets posted on YouTube, people are allowed to vote on it, and to offer comments.

Once the Reddit people get done with that, Rebecca Black will look like a Grammy Award candidate. When these studios get millions of negative votes and "U SUK" comments on all of their social media outlets, entire marketing campaigns will be adversely affected.

It didn't work out that way...but it could have.

In another potential effort - and frankly I don't know how this one turned out - Y Combinator was looking at funding some alternatives to the major studios. Of course, the Y Combinator folks would have insisted that the funded startups adhere to certain practices.

PITCHMAN: And then when the service goes out of beta, we'll have cool kids drooling over our insanely great service and we'll get bought out by a major studio!

YC: And will you have better ideas than Hollywood?

PITCHMAN: Oh yes! You know how Hollywood uses 3-D a lot? Well, we'll use 4-D. That's 33% better than what the major studios do!

YC: Hmm...speaking of major studios, could you share your First Amendment policy with us?

PITCHMAN: My what?

YC: Your pledge that your company will behave in an ethical manner and honor the free speech rights of all Americans, and the inherent free speech rights possessed by every human being in the entire world.

PITCHMAN: Uh...we'll have to get back to you on that.

YC: And WE'LL have to get back to YOU regarding your request for funding. Next?

I don't know if this was my best post from January, but I ran across it and like it so I'm writing about it again. Go here for the rest.

Well, one month down, eleven to go.