A VC - Latest Comments in Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

Don Jones — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:58:52 -0000

Plinky.com - working on encouraging people to share content:

http://gigaom.com/2008/06/0...

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

Hargin — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 00:19:55 -0000

another one you might want to look into is www.metroseeq.com, they seem to get what the consumer and advertise want - free advertising

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

David Adewumi — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:19:53 -0000

With a property like outside.in, is that where exactly are they grabbing peer-produced content,f from?

The problem, Fred, is the definition of "news." What if I told a story on My Facebook, or myspace account (I actually don't have one) that was a blog post about my experiences surrounding a news event, say, an NBA finals game. A first-hand account.

That is peer-produced "news" so to speak, such as we've seen with Twitter, where people are essentially making micro-blog posts firing off news faster than the major mainstream media players.

How does Outside.in organize said social content, and integreate (and filter) that for it's hyper-local news. If it doesn't, it fails to account for peer-produced news as it is already happening -- on our social networks and blogs ( and micro-blogs) where this content is already being created.

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

Todd Zeigler — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:07:39 -0000

While I agree about the importance of peer-produced content, I also think this experiment may have been doomed to fail due to the choice of Loudoun County as the test case. Loudoun County is an extremely wealthy, sprawling suburb out by Dulles Airport. I live in DC proper and am by no means an expert on these NOVA suburbs, but my sense of them is that the residents are disconnected from each other. They have connections to DC itself, other states, their work life, etc. Loudoun County is just where they live. There may not be enough of a tight knit community in place there to hold something like LoudounExtra together.

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

Steve — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:46:07 -0000

I agree, the barrier to entry for what outside.in is actually so incredibly low that as a business model, i can't say i'd invest long term. early vc's will probably make their money, but i'd be looking for my exit on this one

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

ryankuder — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:02:03 -0000

Fred, I watched the news on Outside.in closely as it's related to what I'm working on. I think it's a great investment. I think where hyperlocal breaks down currently is at the social level. We all know that recommendations and reviews are most trusted when they come from people we know, but I think for most people Yelp and Craigslist are filled with strangers. There are a lot of local content aggregation plays (Topix, Outside.in, Everyblock), but I think they miss the concept of a neighborhood. You mentioned your West Village neighborhood. What makes it vibrant is the people--not the content about the people. I believe that the winners in this space will discover how to get neighbors interacting with neighbors. It's already happening that people are creating this content (Don Jones mentions PAMP, and there are tons of other Y! Groups for 'hoods), but it's all unstructured. How do we structure the hyperlocal social content and pull it together with the right set of features that help neighbors be neighbors? This is the problem that my company is working on solving.

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

fredwilson — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:41:10 -0000

If so, you should do that and show the world how it's done

The outside.in team clearly thinks its not that easy

fred

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

Frymaster — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 11:00:49 -0000

Like Clay Sharky said, "Even a 4 year old knows that a screen that ships without a mouse ships broken." This generation are producers.

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

Frymaster — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:51:37 -0000

This conversation shows how perception is based on perspective - it's hyperlocal. Where I am, greater Providence, RI, there's all kinds of different local-ist flare-ups. Part of my work is with the 'place-making' style of planning and econ dev, and that community is all about the local flavor. I'm one of those urbanist/bicycle rider types, so that community is wikkit local. We use UrbanPlanet. A lot.

Then there's the city where I am, Pawtucket - it's Providence's no-good little brother. Artists and entrepreneurs are flocking (trickling) here as Prov gets more expensive, and we're creating a unique, hyperlocal culture with major freakonomic impact. If you've heard the uber-cool Battles, you've heard content produced in nasty ol Pawtucket.

I think the deciding factor is the "place-iness" of the place. And right now, lots and lots of small cities are developing very strong local cultures. Fred, you may remember that very small papers have been a hot commodity. Here's my coverage of my local fishwrap's sale to the freakin' Radlers!

Thanks for the tip to outside.in - I'm in the process of adding geo-tags to my blog. Fun.

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

gregorylent — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:38:24 -0000

it will fly when it starts to embrace local conversations around local issues, my two rupees worth

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

gregorylent — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:37:11 -0000

yes, i love that. me sitting in bangalore reading something that someone in silicon valley is writing that i know a guy in new york can use... too too sweet ... outside.in will get it i am sure

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

lucas20 — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:47:12 -0000

I am really struggling to see outside.in as a quality investment. The technology taken to aggregate blogs is incredibly basic and pulling together quality blogs from local areas could be done with a simple technorati search or a day or two of browsing by low skilled workers.

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

fredwilson — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:47:03 -0000

I have now. Thanks

This little exchange shows the power of blogging. I might not have seen this but its something I should see

Awesome

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

gregory — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:42:23 -0000

hope you saw this today too... http://www.techcrunch.com/2...

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

Steve Kane — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:05:03 -0000

Interesting. I will check out reachlocal.

If the yellowpages economy comes to the web, that is HUGE.

(And hugely painful to a bunch of LBO firms who have repeatedly successfully
traded cash-cow traditional yellowpages companies.)

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

fredwilson — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 06:36:20 -0000

things change a lot when you have kids, join a school community, a church, a little league, etc

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

fredwilson — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 06:25:03 -0000

There are companies like reachlocal that are bringing the yellowpage
advertiser to google

Once they are all on google, I think the monetization problem gets a lot
easier to solve

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

gloriakt — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 01:23:53 -0000

Have to say that I agree with the post on the most general level - hyperlocal content seems like a logical/natural progression. With the immense amount of content/messages bombarding the Internet - commonalities, whether it be geographical or interest driven - become natural filters. Those who spot this, take advantage of it, and position themselves as a resource in the community may find themselves becoming auhorities in this space.

Curious to see how outside.in will evolve. Thanks for sharing!

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

Rob Long — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:55:24 -0000

Monday night I was part of a panel that spoke to a group of high school students in a small town east of Los Angeles. They're all part of some larger California-based non-partisan, non-profit that's aiming to increase the political activity and sophistication of young people. And we were talking about "The Effect of YouTube and the Web on American Politics" -- I know, I know, too broad, old news, boring, hey, I didn't pick the topic -- but we quickly started talking about local.

Local news, local politics, local blogs.

And some kid piped up: "We should have a Yelp for politicians." And some other kid piped up: "We should have a Yelp for local politics." And another kid added: "And local neighborhoods." Another: "And local crime." And another: "And schools." And another: "And teachers." At which point we all laughed and moved on to something else.

But think about how much data and how much sheer inputting these kids have already done -- and are going to be doing -- to the web. And how naturally they assume that everything -- everything! -- should be, basically, Yelped.

So it may not take all that long before the web gets deeply, richly hyperlocal.

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

Anton — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:02:55 -0000

Clearly, their big mistake was they didn't introduce themselves to the community ala Yelp. Just building a site means nothing now even if you are the Post. There is demand for local content online but I doubt the solution will come from a newspaper.

Trying to aggregate and display in a blog format (OutsideIn) doesn't fulfill the promise. I live in Venice and the OutsideIn site was just a blog roll and a list of 'stories' that didn't cohere for me. I don't think that will pull people away from high-end news sites given their superior UI experience (and lets face it, it ain't that great..LA Times anyone).

While I understand the SEO benefit of the blog UI (thanks for that Google), compared to the experience of using an iPhone...well not much more to say.

The winner will combine the content and a next gen UI not a blog meets craigslist...or maybe thats what I hope. We'll see...:P

Anton

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

zachlandes — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 23:26:25 -0000

Sites that get at least one element of hyperlocal right:
yelp
creativeloafing
meetup
brightkite
craigslist

with the exception of craigslist, these sites are about younger people looking to be active, and all use community well.

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

Christopher Harley — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 23:20:22 -0000

Here in Portland, Oregon hyperlocal is an absolute reality. I'm impressed by outside.in but the truth is that we're pulled in several different directions when providing feedback. Yelp is given a tremendous amount of attention and rightly so, we're riding high on a wave of new restaurants and bars. But Portlanders generally share their esteem for several distinct neighborhoods and with it their money and focus. Though I've lived in the same area of Portland for close to 13 years, as a cab driver, my attention isn't so narrow as to leave me overly interested in my Mt Tabor neighborhood, even though it's a long-time favorite for others in the city. Our population density has a lot to do with how freely we pronounce this neighborhood or that as our new favorite. We're not capricious, just blessed.

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

loupaglia — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:21:53 -0000

Fred: USV investment in outside.in makes total sense, as you've stated and personally blogged about for some time, the local content play will take hold just like niche content has taken hold in so many different ways. Fitting that you are making an investment in a venture around the topic you've been so vocal about for some time.

BTW, worked with Mark at About.com, thought it was a perfect fit when I saw the news that he was coming aboard. Bringing in the content background as well as the niche monetization background as well to move the company to the next phase.

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

Steve Kane — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:05:33 -0000

vision-wise, i tilt your way fred. way your way.

but i think the challenge is practical.

and the problem isn't about content aggregation - that happens/has happened easily many times, i think.

rather, the problem is efficient/cost effective ad sales.

but not getting geo-targeting for national accounts. again, many have/are been there done that.

no, the core issue is, will/how will local merchants spend their small-individually-but-large-collectively dollars on the web?

and i'm not sure anyone has cracked that case, despite 15 years and huge sums spent trying.

of course, it'll happen.

some kid is probably typing away at it right now.

(btw, a footnote: i spent quite a few extraordinarily fun and productive and memorable years of my 20s in local content, as one of the editors of the glorious but now defunct free alternative weekly paper, The Los Angeles Reader, home to a ragged but deadline-worshipping crew of burnouts, wackos, drifters and caffeine and controlled-substance-fueled occasional geniuses, some of whom (Matt Groenig) arguably went on to change the world.

The best best best thing about creating local content? (And I mean, content. Humor, pathos, substance, life. Not virtual thumbtacks on a map.)

People really really care about it.

It may not change their lives.

But it can make their day.)

Re: Hyperlocal Has To Be Peer Produced

Jeff Crites — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 21:54:23 -0000

Ed:

I was pretty active on the Starbucks site for the first few weeks, and I agree there were and are a ton of employees there. But I ran into plenty of passionate coffee house fanatics as well, who loved to spill their idea beans to bring back that great coffee house experience. You have a valid point about interests VS location. But one could also argue that people who live in the same community ... will have many of the same interests (crime, traffic, zoning issues, taxes ... trash pickup ... the list is long). The community spotlighted in the Wall St Journal article, Loudon County, finds itself thick in the middle of the housing disaster. Lots of formerly expensive homes in an area that's known as the DC Metro area's high tech corridor. I think, as the tech team that built Loudonextra.com admitted, their big mistake was failing to dialogue directly with the people who live there, to find out what they're really interested in. A failure to communicate, when hyper local should be all about personal communication (hyper serving local consumers).

There are software systems that can be implemented, much in the same way that colleges now have emergency alert systems in place, to send text and voice messages to opt-in cell and home numbers. I'd opt in in a second, if I knew I could receive crime and other important news alerts (weather, a really bad traffic accident, fire) minutes after something happens.