CitySquares in Boston and beyond says business is good with advertisers’ coupons being hot.
Citysearch rebuilt its site. “Elements of the revamp include a more intuitive interface, an embrace of social media, a major focus on video, some new twists in mobile, and the development of a full-fledged local ad and content network that offers an alternative to Google’s dominant position.” -Local Onliner
Service Magic is doing very well, despite the general economic conditions. Co-founder Rodney Rice’s “6 Keys to Success in Local Services” via Andrew Shotland:
- Build supply before demand
- Choose the right vertical focus/right branding
- Execute as a service business, not a dot com (too true)
- Control customer acquisition costs - apply real business metrics
- Utilize technologies that make sense now - not in 3, 5 or 10 years
- Focus on yourself, not the competition (the best advice ever)
Angie’s List took in more VC money recently, bringing it’s total raised to about $66 million. And Shotland reports Angie Hicks saying “The biggest competitor in the space is ‘your next door neighbor.’” Interesting. In this light, Angie’s List offers another way to buy your way out of something you just can’t find the time to do… get to know the neighbors and have conversations with them. Front Porch Forum, on the other hand, is free and uses things like plumber recommendations among clearly identified nearby neighbors as a way to help connect neighbors and lead toward more vital communities.
And again from Shotland…
The thing I love the most about both Angie’s and Rodney’s talks is that they are both very much outside the local search/Silicon Valley community in some ways (well Angie did raise a bunch of $ from VCs and Rodney did sell out to IAC, but besides that), but they are both incredibly successful.
John Wonderlich at Sunlight Foundation quotes Steven Clift today…
When I was a child and my father had cancer, I remember neighbors coming to our assistance in our time of need. Today, with modern life keeping neighbors as strangers, we must use these new tools to break down barriers to community. You deserve the right to easily e-mail your immediate neighbors the morning after you’ve been burglarized without having to go door-to-door to collect e-mail addresses. We can balance safety and privacy with selective public disclosure of such personal contact information with an intelligent “unlisted to most” directory option that is not the all or nothing of today.
This is big “C” community and small “d” democracy. A collection of better-connected blocks, tied to broader neighborhood and community-wide online efforts will serve as the vibrant foundation we need for accountable and effective representative democracy right up to the Congress and president. You cannot force everyone to be neighborly, but the bonds of community can be restored and nurtured despite dual income families and the assault on time for community involvement.
Right on. We’re honored that they both mention Front Porch Forum. And thanks to The Pulse from the Knight Foundation for pointing me to this post.
Matt, on the LocalMouth blog, writes recently…
Personally, I think there’s great potential for simple online tools to bring local communities more closely together. It may be a struggle at the start to get together a critical mass of neighbours, and it may need a liberal dash of coaxing, but once you’ve got the ball rolling, people’s natural desire to communicate with others should take care of the rest. Good stuff will happen. ‘Good’ won’t always mean that people get along well or that arguments won’t take place. Far from it. When people are talking about stuff that matters, conversations are bound to get heated at times, and that’s where the delicate job of moderation comes in. But generally, I think, more communication between local people can be a very positive thing.
Right on! He goes on to list several UK websites that each focus in a different way on their local community… and Front Porch Forum.
I look forward to checking out the local sites he mentions. Thanks Matt!
I’m frequently approached by folks interested in Front Porch Forum for their neighborhood. If they live in our pilot service area (Chittenden County, VT), they are welcome to join. If not, then they can add their community to our waiting list.
But often people ask what steps they can take now and I offer some simple alternatives. Well, I just found a succinct post that I’ll direct these inquiries to in the future from Matt on the UK LocalMouth blog. He offers just enough detail to help the curious get started about a neighborhood…
- Blog
- Social network
- Bulletin board
- Group
- Content management system
And Front Porch Forum would be yet another type of option, where available.
Our software hiccuped today and left a single tiny posting sitting on our doorstep with no identifying label. Do you recognize this little baby? Yours?
ANOTHER NEIGHBOR JOINS FORUM - I am excited to be a member of Front Porch Forum, and I’ve heard nothing but great things about this network!
Well, welcome mystery member! And you’ll have to post again if you want to directly reach your nearby neighbors… sorry about that.
I, for one, am looking forward to November 5… that’s right, the day AFTER the big election. Front Porch Forum has been swamped with postings from citizens and elected officials alike… advocating for and against candidates and ballot measures. The State Rep. race in Chittenden 3-04, the police station building site in South Burlington and on and on.
And I know I’m not alone. Many of our subscribers love the political back and forth, while others are clearly fed up and ready to move on. I got a lovely note today from an FPF member in South Burlington that was a pleasant surprise…
The other day, I decided to resist posting my emotional response to [a City Councilor's] posting re. a police station on the Calkins Natural Area. I was very angry, feeling that [he] misused a position of power to promote something that is very politically controversial. I had considered using the FPF in the same way and decided that my neighborhood forum is a “place” for me to share and gather information on topics or issues that relate to our neighborhood and it isn’t a “place” for me to lobby my neighbors for one position or another. (Even though, our neighborhood probably has the most to lose on this specific topic.) And… since [his] posting is out there, I may very well post my position, too.
Anyway, I want to say thank you for your commitment to FPF and what it provides all of us. It is almost impossible in this era, to build a sense of “neighborliness”. I’ve lived in my neighborhood for over 14 years and the FPF has introduced me to neighbors I would otherwise never know.
Sometimes, when we have responsibility for providing or “facilitating” a service and we have negative reactions to the facilitation, we wonder if it’s appreciated. I want to tell you, it is.
Thank you for facilitating our ability to being good neighbors.
Don’t forget to vote on November 4!
I was glad to read on an FPF neighborhood forum in Burlington’s New North End that woman who had found a lost puppy had found the owners. Good news!
I did get a lot of responses offering help [from my Front Porch Forum posting]. Many people offered to take the dog in until the owner was found, others offered to help put up notices in the neighborhood and others gave support by offering food and such to help me while I looked for the owner. Using the front porch forum really brought the community together for a small little dog, that I truly fell in love with in just over 24 hours. Thanks.
It’s a little thing… one tiny lost pup… but this kind of event, played out over and over starts to make a real change in a neighborhood… starts to enhance the sense of community, build the lines of communication, show what’s possible.
Mike Boland blogs about the dismal market penetration of RSS…
Matt Ryan reported for the Burlington Free Press today…
Vermont campaign signs along Vermont 15 in front of the Essex Junction Shopping Center have prompted a departing state legislator to call on citizens to boycott businesses within the center — even though the businesses’ managers said they had nothing to do with the signs.
Rep. Peter Hunt, a Democrat from Essex Junction, wrote in a post on Front Porch Forum on Oct. 17 that he would stop shopping at Aubuchon Hardware, Rite Aid Pharmacy, Sherwin-Williams, Quality Bake Shop or “any of the individual store (sic) who have taken this political stance as long as they have these signs on Pearl Street.”
“I am disappointed that these business (sic) have chosen to a (sic) political stance to support candidates from one party,” Hunt wrote. “This is completely out of line.”
He concluded with, “I hope all of you will also shop in other stores.”
More than a dozen FPF subscribers have responded on our service, none in agreement with Rep. Hunt’s call.
Sometimes I wonder if Front Porch Forum’s service is a good fit for a neighborhood that is already tight-knit… if everyone already seems to know one another, why would they need FPF? So the comment from Becky today regarding her neighborhood in South Burlington, VT, was especially appreciated…
I know I speak for many in our neighborhood when I say that your service has brought us closer as a community. We do have a special place here… and we can now communicate through your great site.