Author Archives: Phil

Ask.com: AskCity

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Ask.com released some data last week that shows how their new local search service AskCity is being used.

Here is the top 10 list for services search:

1. Restaurants
2. Hotels
3. Churches
4. Banks & credit unions
5. Car dealers
6. Lawyers/attorneys
7. Family doctor
8. Furniture dealers
9. Children & Daycare
10. Hair salons

Additionally, here’s a byte from Greg Sterling’s blog about the service:

Barry Diller keeps talking about Ask as the “glue” of his empire and more specifically about the importance of local. Ask and the new AskCity are thus in the hot seat.

What I find interesting is that all the large portals that are interested in search and local advertising are requiring users to come to them. Yahoo, Google, IAC — they are all building these great tools and portal interfaces with new user interfaces, experimenting with mapping, tagging, and any other type of user generated content (UGC) they can dream up.

What’s the ultimate fate of this “go out and find it” scenario? Wouldn’t it be better for them to come to us? Wouldn’t it be great if the new restaurant on the corner came to you and told you they were open and what kind of food they serve? Sure, they can drop a flyer on your front step, but that’s old school, right?

What type of network would it take to alert a community to new services in their area that they are already looking for anyway? Maybe something like a neighborhood-based social network of local residents that live within a 15 mile radius of the new business which is the same area where they spend the majority of their hard-earned dollars.

If we can build such a network, the service providers would come to us on our turf. Then we get to call the shots. Take the first step and get your neighborhood online with eNeighbors.

Neighborhood Art Show

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As I was returning my Netflix DVDs this morning, I saw this taped to my mailbox:

Let’s say that I was really interested in this event that was happening in my neighborhood. If I didn’t happen to have my camera with me (which I always do, but I would argue that I’m not normal), I would have to go back in my house and grab a pen and paper then walk back outside and write down all the details of the art show. Then I would have to make sure I didn’t lose that piece of paper for the next 4 days in order to attend the show at the correct time, location, etc.

See what a pain in the rear that was? Now, if my neighborhood was using the eNeighbors service (which we are working on), then these artists could post their art show as a neighborhood event, and not only would I have been notified more effectively via my neighborhood communications, but I would also have all the event info right there on the website and could easily reference it at any time. Furthermore, I could leave a comment on the event page asking questions about the show. I could even tell my friends next door to check out the art show on the site in case they hadn’t seen it yet.

This is the sort of local community activity that is at the heart of what eNeighbors is trying to accomplish. We want people to talk to each other, share ideas, create things and ultimately enhance their lives by feeling more fulfilled in the place where it matters the most — their home.

Social Technographics

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Forrester just released a new research report titled “Social Technographics” that talks about how consumers approach social technologies. “Social Technographics” is the term Forrester has given to what they are outlining as “six levels of participation” pertaining to the users of social networking sites. Charlene Li, one of the authors, has posted some overview info on her blog.

Here’s the breakdown of the participation types.

What I find interesting is that with all this social network craze going on lately, there is still 52% of online users that are inactive on the social space (see image). Furthermore, this group of “inactives” tend to be older women in the baby boomer generation. So, half of the online population isn’t even using social network sites… I smell some serious potential.

Now, I wrote previously about how eNeighbors should be focused on the boomer generation due to the fact that they are the primary homeowners in the neighborhoods we are trying to get online using our service. Let’s think about your average middle-class household in surburban America. Who is the “socialite” in the house? Which parent is running kids back and forth to all their activities most of the time? Who plans the parties and neighborhood events? The term “soccer mom” is not an accident. Additionally, our experience with our current customers shows that it is most often a woman who steps up to proactively get people involved with the neighborhood website and the communications that go along with it. Think about it, our tool is all about talking to people. It’s a pefect match.

If eNeighbors can target this demographic of inactive users (i.e., middle-aged women), an entirely new type of social network will emerge that will have soccer moms conversing online, texting, organizing parties and generally contributing vast amounts of user-generated content. And finally, we all know who really controls the pocketbook in the house too. What if these newly socialized group of women (who already shop online with Target and GAP) start to get comfortable with things like user reviews, ranking content and tagging sites? Watch out guys, the ladies might just knock you off the high-tech pedestal you’ve grown fat and lazy sitting on all these years.

Viral Marketing & Social Media

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MySpace just released an interesting research report on user habits and responses to marketing campaigns. I’m not sure what to make of the findings quite yet. After all, it was commissioned by Fox Interactive Media (MySpace’s parent company).

But there was one part of the report that grabbed my attention:

In addition to tracking overall usage of the site, the research study focused on the reasons why users are continuing to flock to online social networks. The data indicated that social networkers use the sites not just to improve their online lives, but also to make their offline lives richer and more exciting. More than 48% said they are having more fun in life in general and 45% said their lives are more exciting as a result of spending time networking online. In addition, 57% said they’ve found more people with similar interests and 52% said they feel more in tune with what’s happening socially in their lives due to social networking sites.

The part about making “offline lives richer and more exciting” is a tremendous validation of our efforts here at eNeighbors. First and foremost, we strive to connect neighborhood residents to each other, but our hope is that the natural progression from that communication is that neighbors will interact with each other outside in the real world where there’s sunshine instead of the LCD glow we’ve become so accustomed to.

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere

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Screenwerk mentions eNeighbors today in a post on Hyper/Micro Local Initiatives. Screenwerk is the blog of Greg Sterling who is the founding principal of Sterling Market Intelligence.

Elsewhere, Front Porch Forum also comments on the eNeighbors new service. Front Porch Forum’s mission is to help neighbors connect and foster community within neighborhoods through email forums.

Why Is eNeighbors Important?

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I was thinking about what it is that we do — Why does eNeighbors exist? What are our goals? Why did we create this web application? etc… You get the idea. Here was my conclusion — the most important thing about eNeighbors is that we promote, facilitate and encourage the following:

  1. Open communication
  2. Sense of place in a community
  3. Public safety

The goal of any social network is to create constant communication between its community members. eNeighbors has taken this concept and pushed it even further. Our goal is to get our users (neighbors) to interact with each other “offline” in the real world.

This interaction of online community members in the offline world is known as blended networking. One of the reasons MySpace has been so successful is that when it first started, it’s original members were drawn together by the music scene. Fans would connect online and then join up at concerts in person. This activity helped build a great sense of place around their favorite bands.

eNeighbors can accomplish this exact same scenario, but rather than a band being the central point of interest, your neighborhood is the primary focus. eNeighbors creates a great sense of place within your community by fostering constant communication and openness in resident conversations not only with each other but also with the board of directors.

The great thing about all this open communication is that it helps to build a safe environment for you and your family. Everyone in the community is informed about what’s going on, and the social awareness is very high. Additionally, in case of an emergency, you are able to instantly alert the entire community.

At the end of the day, we all want to live in a great location with high property values, low crime and good schools. At eNeighbors, we are doing our best to make this happen in your community. After all, we want the same thing for our families.

Learn how to get your neighborhood online with eNeighbors

Web 2.0 Expo: Insider Update

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David Spark of Spark Minute gives his insider update on what is “cool”and “not so cool” at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco.

I worked with David while I was at Sprint a couple years back. He helped us get podcasting and blogging off the ground for the B2B channel (a social media first for Sprint at that time). His insight and matter-of-fact observations are always very refreshing compared to most of the tech drivel in the media these days.

Check his site out.

Web 2.0 Expo 2007

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The 2007 Web 2.0 Expo is going on this week in San Francisco. Tim O’Reilly first coined the web 2.0 phrase back in 2005, and ever since it’s been hip and trendy to start a web 2.0 company. Hey, we did it too.

The expo really does have some great speakers and workshops for all levels of web 2.0 experts. Check out their live expo blog featuring video cam feeds from the PodTech guys.

The Future of Social Networking

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Over the weekend, I came across a great article on CNET written by Paul Lamb last fall. He comments on the current social networking space and points out that it is primarily targeted to the teen and twentysomething crowd. But what about the older more low-tech people who are now on the internet? Paul asks the following:

“What would a world look like where the best of social-networking tools were put to use in “average” communities and for the larger social good?”

His first example — neighborhood social networking.

Social networks are great for getting people connected online and joining disparate groups through common interests and activities, but ultimately, we are social beings. We like to see, touch and interact directly with other human beings.

Social networking is still in its nascent stage, and we can only assume that as the paradigm begins to shift and mature, these social networks will start to adjust to accommodate real-life interactions. As Paul says, a look in the eye and a handshake will tell you a lot more about a person than a text message or a generic online profile.

Visit eNeighbors.com to see our first step towards something better for social networks.