Marty Himmelstein writes today in Screenwerk about Google and local search. I recommend reading the whole piece. Himmelstein appears to be thinking systemically… holistically. Impressive… even if his state is upside down.
And given Front Porch Forum‘s initial local success, his recognition of neighborhood’s role is noteworthy…
The importance of community and neighborhood to local search: The fundamental role of a community in local search is to establish an environment of trust so that users can rely on the information they obtain from the system. Businesses exist in a network of customers, suppliers, municipal agencies, local media, hobbyists, and others with either a professional or avocational interest in establishing the trustworthiness of local information. These community members can contribute unique perspectives to create a rich and accurate depiction of the businesses with which they are involved.
Following up on our previous posting about Grayboxx, here’s the headline from Peter K. at The Local Onliner today… Grayboxx CEO: OK, Burlington Probably ‘Too Small’
I’m glad to hear a reasonable explanation for the funky results seen by people who live in Burlington. I hope Greyboxx does well elsewhere and improves in Burlington.
Peter appears to have stolen Montpelier’s crown as Vermont’s capital and bestowed it upon Burlington. 😉
And while Grayboxx says it should work better in areas with more than 100,000 people, that doesn’t quite jibe either, since greater Burlington has about 130,000 (the City proper is 38,000).
I tried to join this new service, but haven’t been able to yet.
I think I visited Smalltown.com a year ago and thought it looked interesting. Well, it seems they’ve been busy! They now host sites in five California communities…
Smalltown is the website where you can discover local treasures from the best source: your neighbors. Find a great babysitter, carpenter or stylist. Read reviews of the high school play. Watch a video clip about a new restaurant.
Smalltown recieved $3M of Series A investment about a year ago. But what caught my attention was co-founder Hal Rucker’s recent blog posting…
Which makes more sense for local: generate deep and uniquely useful content in a small geography, then replicate that process for hundreds of towns, or launch the whole US with shallow content all at once? (Choose one, because you can’t launch with deep local content everywhere at the same time.) InsiderPages went wide and shallow and it didn’t work out. Backfence tried to go deep in several regions at the same time and it, too, couldn’t get enough traction. Smalltown is going very deep in a very small geography, with plans to replicate that success quickly when we have all the technology and marketing knobs dialed in.
This gets at my previous postings about authentic local sites vs. global giants masquerading as local sites. As the number of web offerings explode, quality of information and genuine local knowledge will become more and more valuable. Sites that tap into that will become gems among the countless “wide and shallow” offerings.
I can foresee each city in the country having its own authentically local site (or sites) in the next few years that clearly dominate their town’s online space. Just like when every city had 1, 2, 3 or more daily newspapers. Just like in the past when you wanted news, sports, weather, debate, advertising, coupons, classifieds, etc… most people reached for the Gazette or Sentinel or whatever dominated the local newspaper scene.
Some sites will be homegrown entrepreneurial efforts (e.g., iBrattleboro), others may be a morphed newspaper that gets online done right, some areas will be covered by a “chain” like Smalltown or Backfence (RIP), and other poor towns will only have soulless cookie cutter sites supplied top-down by a giant dot.com.
So Smalltown appears to be doing the hard work of developing truly local sites based on their proprietary platform and process. I’m impressed with the concept. I’m not familiar with their initial communities, so it’s hard to assess the results to date, and I haven’t focused on the technology they’ve developed. More power to ’em. 🙂
Thanks to Chris Stock at eNeighbors who just pointed me toward Everyblock.com…
EveryBlock will be a site that aggregates an unprecedented depth of local news and information in select cities. EveryBlock is being developed by the team that created chicagocrime.org, a pioneering journalism project named by the New York Times as one of 2005’s best ideas.
I look forward to learning more as this new service unfolds.
I admit that I’ve never been much of an online social networker. I’ve watched various sites come on the scene, some skyrocket, and some fall back down to earth. The latest darling, of course, is Facebook. I’ve tried a few times to immerse myself in it supposedly life-giving waters, but I end up hopping out after a quick lap… feels like a waste of time for me. I know others whom I respect find it valuable, so it remains one of life’s mysteries… gotta love the unknown.
Except I’m beginning to hear what may grow into a chorus of the disenchanted. Here are a couple not who also are not drawn to Facebook… apophenia (see comments too) and DevLife (writes about Front Porch Forum too).
Did you know that September 16, 2007 is National Neighborhood Day? I had an interesting discussion with the founder of this effort the other day, Lorne Adrain.
MISSION
National Neighborhood Day inspires, builds, and sustains the neighborhood relationships that provide the foundation for civic action and the building of stronger, more caring and effective communities.VISION
National Neighborhood Day was established as an annual day to recognize and reinforce the relationships that are the fabric of our communities. It is a day of simple gatherings of neighbors to re-kindle friendships; welcome new neighbors; catch up on each others’ families, interests and needs; and share food, fellowship and fun.The ties that unite a neighborhood help us better tackle and enjoy the myriad of challenges and opportunities we face. The simple goal of National Neighborhood Day is to bring neighbors together and to help enhance neighborhood connections. Neighbors knowing neighbors improves neighborhood connections; connected neighborhoods lead to more effective communities; effective communities strengthen our nation as a whole. This ripple effect from our own neighborhoods to the larger world outside is what Neighborhood Day promotes.
So do something to celebrate and enhance your neighborhood on September 16. If you live in our service area, use Front Porch Forum to organize things.
Ghost of Midnight is an online journal about fostering community within neighborhoods, with a special focus on Front Porch Forum (FPF). My wife, Valerie, and I founded FPF in 2006... read more
