Local.com announced a deal with Expedia.com for local travel. Peter Krasilovsky reports…
Local.com is in a different “local” category. It aggregates a ton of local content and features, but it doesn’t necessarily vie with the local Yellow Pages or local search sites, for everyday local traffic.
I mean, it would if it could. It has added a lot of functionality. But mostly, with its easy-to-remember URL (which it paid $700k for), and helpful grab-bag of local features, the site gets its traffic from the type of occasional user who aren’t particularly adept at using Google, or too impatient to do so. It claims quite a few of those – 10 million every month.
$700,000 for a URL… I just wanted to type that once.
Yahoo‘s CEO is out, replaced by one of the founders. Other juggling around in progress. The Local Onliner and others are speculating what that might mean for Yahoo’s local efforts.
Congratulations to Seven Days‘ Cathy Resmer for the national award she just won for her work online. Details here.
A local attorney posted the following on his Old North End neighborhood forum today. Thanks Dennis!
Thanks to Front Porch Forum for this service and all the work that you do to keep the magnificent line of communications up and running so efficiently. It is amazing and the benefits for all are very real. Sometimes it is easy to take such things for granted so I feel it necessary to toss in this heartfelt thanks and appreciation which I am sure is shared by everyone who has benefited from this valuable community asset. Thank you again. -Dennis McMahon
Dan Gillmor wrote recently…
Jason Calacanis, who calls his new venture Mahalo “human-powered search,” says the company will pay freelance searchers a fee for links the site accepts. He says he hopes for hundreds or thousands of people in this part-time capacity.
Some similarity to Front Porch Forum in that our subscribers put all sorts of search questions to their neighbors through our service… looking for a roofer, seeking replacement storm windows, babysitter needed, who to talk to about potholes, etc.
Instead of pay, the motivation for members to respond to requests for information is based on their desire to connect with neighbors and build community within their neighborhood. That is, answer a question and get a little healthier community to live in in return.
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