Last week, Judy’s Book joined the list of companies that have tried but stumbled or wiped out in local. The market’s complexity and business model challenges make it tough for most startups to succeed. Yet, paradoxically, consumers have clearly embraced the “local Internet” and are using it with increasing frequency to find local information online.
A couple of weeks ago we reported on recent, top-level local data from local SEM firm WebVisible and Nielsen. The data come out of a survey fielded earlier this year with roughly 2000 U.S. adults. However, there were a great many interesting details in the survey that are worth taking a closer look at.
This was from my Locals Only column yesterday.
Screenwerk 
October 31, 2007 at 4:38 pm
Its really fascinating. There is significant growth into the local market, and significant growth in dependance upon the web for reliable information. Contrast that with the efforts to grow vital monetized communities that create energy and activity around content, information, coupons, reviews, etc. and it describes both the opportunities, the growth, and the challenges. Growth of IYP is an offshoot of simply searching for local information. But communities are an entirely different story.
I guess we will continue to see some successes and failures and hopefully see some patterns over time.