Peter Krasilovsky posts about CityVoter, yet another new local player, that has partnered with some local TV affiliate sites to offer “best of” listings and rankings. The company was started by a former Forrester Research analyst and, as Peter points out, Forrester has essentially written an over-friendly review (see it here). How is this not just a more limited version of Citysearch or AOL’s Cityguides?
Peter cites the operative quote in the write-up: “What’s next for local advertisers? I think the CityVoter model finally replaces ye old Yellow Pages.”
Hello? What are you smoking? That’s my question. (I don’t think Charlene Li would have made quite the same remark).
What all the clutter in the local space does is reinforce the usage of established players and brands that are familiar to consumers (read: Google and Yahoo), as well as YP brands in selected markets.
If CityVoter and these “best of” sites had some radically better user experience then the Forrester prognosis might have some validity. The one thing that CityVoter has going for it (vs. strong existing local players) is the TV promotional muscle. That might drive traffic to these affiliate sites.
I have nothing against CityVoter but I think the blog write up is both promotional and a bit naive and that’s what I’m really reacting to.
Screenwerk 