Category Archives: social networking

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.

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.

Baby Boomers vs. The Internet

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Fact #1:

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000, the majority of homeowners are between the ages of 35 and 55.

Fact #2:

eNeighbors sells an online communication service that serves as private social network and communication tool for managed communities and neighborhoods.

Conclusion:

This would lead one to believe that the primary audience for the eNeighbors web service is the baby boomers since they make up the majority of the residents living in most neighborhoods.

Now we all know that this particular generation has a varied mix of tech savviness. For example, my parents couldn’t tell you what a social network is let alone why they would want one. On the other hand, most of the top tech companies where founded and are now operated by this same generation.

So, how do you market to this audience? Great question.

The answer is: We don’t know.

Seth Godin touches on this dilemma on his blog today. His summation is essentially that psychographics are more important than demographics when it comes to this audience. I would agree. Just because they are older doesn’t mean they don’t get it. eNeighbors is banking on this fact.

So far, all I can tell you is that people love being social (even the old ones). As broadband penetration keeps growing and the older generation gets more comfortable with technology, they’ll want to stay in touch. Especially within their local offline community.

That’s when eNeighbors will be there for them.

Conversation Architects

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David Armano, Creative VP at Digitas, just published a great article on Business Week. He starts out by making the point that we are all consumers in all aspects of our life, so how do you market to all of us these days…?

His proposal — become a conversation architect (great concept, btw). We need to facilitate the exchange of information, create affinity around brands and communities, and ultimately let the medium drive the message.

I love the sound of this! Here’s a great excerpt from the article that just nails the shift in the mental state that needs to happen:

Consider the example of a typical creative brief template, which usually says something like, “What are we trying to communicate?” Can you see the old-world residue in the word “communicate”? It lacks the dimensions of experiencing something and having an ongoing two-way dialogue. “What are we trying to communicate?” implies a one-way conversation. Maybe we should ask ourselves: “How can we facilitate?”

Enter eNeighbors.

For decades, since the inception of homeowners associations, there have always been a select few (i.e. the board of directors) that communicate in a one-way manner with the remainder of the community residents. Sure, there are meetings where all are invited, but who actually shows up? And how many?

The greatness of eNeighbors lies in the ability to facilitate a conversation between not only the board members and the rest of the residents but between the residents themselves, and at the same time allowing that conversation to happen at any time day or night within the convenience of your own home.

I know… why hasn’t anyone done this before? Well, we have now. Feel free to converse amongst yourselves.

The Edge of Greatness

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Over the weekend, Perry Evans of evans ink posted an interesting insight into what he calls “conversational commerce.” The basic premise is that small business owners need to leverage the growing consumer participation on the internet in the ever-expanding world of social network sites to create connections to their local services.

He mentions ServiceMagic’s efforts to create some of these connections, but indicates that otherwise there are not any real superstars in this field yet.

Here’s my favorite quote:
“The chasm between potential and reality is still huge and the ‘live web’ is a truly compelling blank slate.”

Now I’m not sure if this makes me nervous or extremely excited. eNeighbors is trying to do this exact thing.

First and foremost, we provide a unique communcations platform for neighborhoods, but a close second is the goal to create a local ad platform for highly focused local service providers.

So, either we are on the edge of greatness, or we are headed down an ill-fated path littered with the remains of our failed predecessors.

No pressure.

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Read Evans’ entire post here