Here at Actionable Books, we love discovering new things! One of our latest “favourites” is Quotica, an interactive web site where users can add their favourite quotes to the database and read quotes added by other users. Recently Andy caught up with Gabriel Tomescu, one of the three creators of Quotica to get the dish behind this exciting new web site!
CONTEST:
Post your all-time favourite quote on our Facebook wall, or Tweet it with the hashtag #ABquote to be automatically entered into a draw to win a copy of Zig Ziglar’s Liitle Book of Big Quotes, Success: Quotes for Achievers (from Success Magazine), or Excerpts from The Treasury of Quotes by Brian Tracy. Contest runs until Thursday, June 23, 2011 at noon!
Where did you get the idea for Quotica?
I’ve always been a fan of collecting quotes, and I used to typically jot down quotes in the Notes app on my phone. The problem was that whenever I switched phones, or forgot to back-up, I somehow always managed to lose them. After going through this pain several times, I gave up.
One night I was on the phone with my girlfriend, helping her deal with some personal issues. I had a perfect quote in mind that was a great fit for situation, exactly what she needed to hear. But I could not for the life of me remember the words! Then it just hit me, I wish I had my favourite quotes at my fingertips, for exactly these type of situations. I wanted to help her, but I was stuck. That conversation could’ve gone a different way, and that’s how Quotica was born.
There are many web sites online that offer a collection of quotes. How does Quotica differ?
Most other websites are “stale”, meaning there is no user engagement and no visual treatment of quotes. We are different because all of our quotes are user-generated, and we take visual aesthetics and the user experience very seriously. We want to build a vibrant, active community around quotes, and to help people bring a bit of goodness into their daily lives.
How did Quotica evolve from the idea you had in your mind to the site as currently exists?
I pitched the idea to my two good friends, Ken and Haseeb, and once they got hooked, we started designing and writing code. We spent a fewmonths working nights and weekends on the website, with dozens of iterations. We had many debates on features and functionality, and we launched with the minimum valuable product (MVP). So far so good. But we’ve got lots more to go!
What end are you hoping to achieve from this collection of quotes?
In a nutshell, we want to help people tell their stories throughquotes, and to dig deeper behind the meaning of the quote. Imagine adding a quote about leadership from a paper you came across in the Harvard Business Review. With Quotica, you have an easy, fun way to capture the quote, an open channel of discussion to describe what the quote means to you, and sharing features to enable your friends and followers to access the HBR article and get the full picture. This can kick start a vibrant community for sharing and discussing meaningful quotes! Just one way that we see Quotica evolving …
Can you tell us a bit about how the quotes or organized, and how your users can find a particular quote?
Quotes are organized through (1) Tags and (2) Authors. When you add a quote, you can specify both of these. For example, you could tag a quote with “life, wisdom, or love”. You can easily find quotes by browsing tags (popular or in alphabetical order), or by typing in a quick search query.
Who is the target demographic for Quotica: scholars or the general public?
We think quotes mean different things for different people. Someone might enjoy collecting quotes on entrepreneurship, and someone might be seeking a perfect quote for an essay. Others might simply enjoy seeking a quote of the day to brighten up each morning. Quotica is wide open to anybody, and you can use it however you wish.
Are there any attempts to ensure accuracy of the quotes?
For now our content is at the mercy of our users. Some quotes have authors and some don’t, and we think that’s okay. We don’t have an active policy or process to ensure accuracy, but this is something we could look at. But as long as the quote gets its intended message across, we think we’ve done our job.
What are the context of the quotes? Are they quotes from famous people, famous literature, movies, TV?
Whatever your heart and mind desire …
Are there any plans to allow for some discussion on the posted quotes?
Yes, this is something we’re actively thinking about. Stay tuned for new developments
Finally, what have quotes meant to you personally and what’s your all-time favourite quote?
I personally enjoy capturing quotes that make small impacts in my daily life. There are quotes that inspire me to grow stronger individually, others that remind of the simpler things in life, and others that I passionately want to learn more about.
My favourite is by Alan Kay: “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”
