Innovation

Some find it hard to believe that one can break ground on an already taken territory, and some find it hard to believe one can break ground without a taken territory. But innovation doesn’t have any rules. It’s about what you do to make yourself unique and what you do to make yourself stand out. And this is the story of @overtherock. How it came from a mainstream blog to an ecosystem with a vision.

It’s October of 2016, and I’ve been itching to publish something for a while. At this stage I as in a transition of what I did- photography, captioning, and web design(via templates). But all of these things had one thing in common- I wanted to get my word out there- my perspective. I did have a blog before-it was called GarageReviews, or The Pandya PRess, or something like that. I forgot. That was about an year ago, in Spring 16. I had 2 posts on there. An introduction and a review on my new bike. To be honest, it was kind of fun.

But I had restricted myself- I wrote the way I would write. Back then, it didn’t seem as logical to communicate as if I was talking, and eventually, I gave out, 2 posts in. It just wasn’t THAT fun.

So fast forward a few months, and I had just finished a photography project, and didn’t have anything new to look forward to. And because I hadn’t really done it the first time around, I was still itching to start some sort of a blog. So, I did. The first post I did was called “iFailed”. It was actually an essay written for a class I was taking, and it was made to be somewhat of a speech. Therefore, the post became more vocal. After reading that over, I really did like the more vocal approach, It felt more true to me and how I communicate. It was a pretty informative post. So I decided to call the blog Over The Rock. Subtly catchy, metaphorical, and simple to say.

After that, I made another post. And another. And another. And every time I did, I loved writing more and more. I had so much to say, and now I could say it. Every time I wrote, I got more addicted. And all these posts have something in common- they were made to inspire and make the readers think and mentally interact with what I was writing, kind of like a conversation.

Eventually more and more people started hearing about it, and overall, it seemed to hit more positive notes.

But there was this one aspect about my blog that didn’t necessarily fit in with the rest. The schooling system. It’s a product of the government that I hate with a fiery passion- it wasn’t fit for this generation, nor did it provide etiquette education for all. And I wanted to keep its strikes against the system going. And after taking a look at YouTube Red, an idea sparked into my head which would eventually become Project Episodes, where a TV-like series can be universally viewed, shared and enjoyed, for free. This idea gave OVTRK an identity like no other. Not only did it publish regular news headlines, it also featured content that would remain entirely exclusive to Over The Rock as a series that was made by it, and ended by it. That was the first spark of uniqueness that came into the picture.

Next up came Composed, an app I was working to compliment @overtherock, and decided to connec closer news and further news into one app. It was also the first project to feature a set of Assistant features I call Hello, for no real good reason.

Next came Midnight, which was actually formed from 2 different scenarios. The initial idea was to create a school magazine, hosted by @overtherock. Eventually, the idea formed to taking it online, with separate posts. Then the same posts. Then a friend came up with a similar idea in a conversation, about emphasizing design, and that’s how Midnight formed- where you could read your posts in a re-imagined way.

And then came the news butler after I came up with an RSS feed and wanted to use it. So, I went back onto the app builder and made another app.

So, this eventually resulted in creating a closed ecosystem like no other. Nowhere else can one retrieve artistically written articles on the news, connect with their friends, and engage in an exclusive series in one place, at one time, and get the help of Hello when they need it.

It’s somewhat like it’s own club, for those who want to read past the headline and engage with the news the way they like it, while still getting the ability to gain quick-feed access to the same pasts as everyone else.

This identity has pushed me to come out with new ideas constantly and to keep its features as distinct as possible. Nowhere else in a news outlet can you find a self produced series, designer themes, and apps that connect with you, and still get access to the live news feeds, exclusive interviews and headlines you get everywhere else.

In the world of media, almost every major news outlet does the same thing, and seeing how far @overtherock has grown since then, I truly hope that this blog- this very one, will be the one to break the ice with something completely new. Where one doesn’t just read the news, but also interacts with it.

This ecosystem is what seperates @overtherock from the rest. It’s what makes it stand out, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. In the next few months, we’re going to push the innovation limit once more-just stay tuned.

So what if we’re in one of the most developed industries available? Things get old and times change. Just because @overtherock is a news outlet of sorts doesn’t mean it can’t be innovative. It just means that the journey now needs to be as complete as the destination.

It’s been only a couple of months since all this happened, and already, Over The Rock has grown to limits that make my mouth gawk open from time to time- and all this: The inspiration, the innovation, and even The Final Blow. None of this couldn’t happen if your support for growing @overtherock and supporting it’s strive for change wasn’t there to help it. So I thank you, and hope that one day, this blog was well worth your time.