Candlelight Vigil for Kelsey

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Out of respect for Kelsey, I’m going to refrain from posting my typical stuff about technology and the web.

Our hearts go out to Kelsey’s family in their time of loss. I have two younger sisters as well as a daughter of my own, and this is my worst nightmare. It’s unimagineable for something like this to happen in our beautiful city of Overland Park.

There will be a candlelight vigil tonight. Here’s the details:

Candlelight Vigil for Kelsey
Shawnee Mission West High School
Marching Band Practice Field
June 7, 8:30 p.m.

Due to construction, park in the Antioch parking lot and enter the field from the north side. Please carpool. Candles will be provided.

Additionally, the family has set up a Kelsey Smith Fund. The details are on the new site that was moved to Blogger:

http://www.findkelsey.com/

Help find Kelsey Smith

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kelsey0.jpgKelsey Smith of Overland Park, KS disappeared on Saturday, June 2 around 7:00 PM. She was last seen in the parking lot at the Target store at 97th and Quivira, behind the Oak Park Mall in Overland Park.

Volunteers will be meeting in the Target parking lot on 97th street behind Oak Park Mall to search for Kelsey. Search groups will be sent out at 10:00AM, 2:00PM and 6:00PM.

Residents in local communities will be handing out this flyer in an attempt to raise awareness and locate her. eNeighbors is posting email Bulletins to all its neighborhood websites in the area encouraging residents to participate in the search.

If you have any information please call the Overland Park police at 913-895-6300. Visit http://www.findkelsey.com/ for more information.

Update: Property Manager Listing

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If you have a property manager in your neighborhood, their contact information will now be listed on the “Board of Directors” page. This allows easy, one-click access for residents to communicate with their property manager. No action is required on your part. This update was made to your website automatically if you have a property manager. Below is a screen shot.

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Browsing vs. Searching vs. Sharing

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The other day, Techcrunch ran a guest post from David Sacks (founder and CEO of Geni and previously the COO of PayPal). I’m going to attempt to summarize his point in one sentence:

Locating content on internet portals has evolved from browsing to searching to sharing.

And today, Facebook has this latest stage of “sharing” figured out way ahead of Yahoo and Google who are still in the search phase of allowing users to locate info on the web.

Ultimately, the sharing phenomenon is more about “pushing” content rather than “pulling” it since the content is recommended by your trusted sources (i.e. your friends list).

So, given that this is the eNeighbors blog, I’m obviously going to tie this into our long term vision and content model…

eNeighbors is building a hyper-local network of neighborhoods, and our registered user base is tied to a physical location (as opposed to the 18 different profiles you have on MySpace under various aliases and which MySpace can offer no data at all about where you really are on the planet).

Once this network is in place and has enough adoption, it inherently creates the ultimate local platform for local business advertising and referrals since the users all live in the same area.

The sharing concept of trusted content becomes extremely important when you are looking for someone to fix your roof or the best real estate agent in your area.

So, instead of going to Ask.com or Yahoo Local to find service providers in your area where you have to search at the city level or metro level, eNeighbors will be able to provide neighborhood-level information on service providers, and on top of that you’ll be able to get trusted referrals from your neighbors that have actually used the service.

I’m telling you, the top down approach to these search portals has to go, people. Demand better (and more relevant) information.

All Things Digital

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On down the west coast, there’s another gathering this week of the technology elite in Carlsbad, CA — D5: The D Conference

The D5 conference is part of All Things Digital which was created by Wall Street Journal’s Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg. Here’s the overview from the site:

AllThingsD.com is a Web site devoted to news, analysis and opinion on technology, the Internet and media. But it is different from other sites in this space. It is a fusion of different media styles, different topics, different formats and different sources.

This is when the tech geek in me really wishes I could get my wife to move the west coast. Should be some really cool stuff going on.

The highlight reel of the much hyped presentation of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates together on the stage can be seen here.

It’s good to be part of the 21st century.

Where 2.0

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The Where 2.0 conference is underway in San Jose. All the big local players are gathered together to share the latest and greatest in location-based technology.

Here’s a quick excerpt from their overview page describing what Where 2.0 is:

Now in its third year, the Where 2.0 Conference is where the grassroots and leading edge developers building location aware technology intersect with the businesses and entrepreneurs seeking out location apps, platforms, and hardware to gain a competitive edge. In the O’Reilly conference tradition, Where 2.0 presents leading trends rather than chasing them.

Visit the blog here, or if you prefer, live Twittering.

It’s also nice to see Garmin participating. Not a lot of big tech firms out of the midwest, but Garmin’s corp headquarters is about 5 blocks from my parent’s house in the suburbs of Kansas City.

eNeighbors Preferences

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You can now opt-out of receiving Community Feedback or Architectural Change Requests from your eNeighbors Profile. This update only applies to board members. To change your preferences, sign in, click on the Edit button above your profile, click Email Subscriptions, and select the appropriate radio buttons to opt-in or out of receiving Community Feedback or Architectural Change Requests.

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Fatdoor Goes Alpha

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fatdoor has launched in alpha mode (SF Bay area only for now).

In a very high-level sense, fatdoor is a new social network focused on localness and aims to have direct ties to the physical community in addition to the online nature of the network.

Per Greg Sterling’s blog, Raj Abhyanker of fatdoor indicates that their goal is to connect neighbors to each other specifically around things like local community, schools and families.

I applaud fatdoor in their efforts. Here at eNeighbors, we are attempting something similar — eNeighbors’ focus is connecting neighbors in their community and offering new ways to more effectively communicate with each other.

The move of social networks to the local level is a great thing to see. Relevance of information and community is starting to grow, and for adults who have little time on their hands to spend online, services like fatdoor will provide a great way to keep in touch with their community.

The power of positive feedback

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Because positive feedback is rare, it’s powerful when it happens. Complaints or negative feedback almost always outnumber positive feedback. There’s no doubt that the “squeaky wheel gets the grease”, at least in the US. It’s almost cultural for us to analyze and evaluate every experience and product and give feedback. Complaining is what we do to get better service.

Positive feedback is unnatural. You have to be really satisified to make the effort to tell someone how happy you are. So when I get a little positive feedback, it means a lot to me.

The following feedback was submitted to the Nottingham by the Green board of directors in regards to classified ad posted through eNeighbors:

“Thank you so much for providing this great service. I have already posted an ad and received feedback. This is a great tool for everyone concerned. Thanks again.”

-Paul and Debbie L. of Nottingham by the Green

Happy Birthday Phil!

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Phil is part of the founding team at eNeighbors. He has dedicated every spare moment of his time passionately pursuing the eNeighbors vision.

I have known Phil for the better part of 9 years and during that time I have worked for him and with him on a number of projects, from Sprint, to our web development company, and now eNeighbors.

What impresses me most about Phil his is intellect, work ethic, and incredible ability to communicate complex concepts to anyone. Most people see Phil’s talent in the design work that he does…you can quickly assess his capabilities as a designer simply by looking at his work. But once you get to know Phil as I have, you learn that his talent goes far beyond what you see on the screen.

Phil’s contribution to eNeighbors is immeasurable, and I am grateful for having him along for the amazing ride of entrepreneurship with all it’s ups and downs. There’s nothing like sharing in the struggle of pursuing a common dream.

Take a night off and have a happy birthday Phil. (No conference calls tonight!)