LostRemote posts on two newspapers launching new local sites:
- Triblocal.com (user-generated content, Tribune Co.)
- Neighborsgo.com (same, Dallas Morning News [Belo])
I’ve also recently become aware of eNeighbors.com, which is a nice looking social networking tool for neighborhoods with events, ads and other capabilities. This is a good and useful idea but there’s really no business model without massive scale unless it’s going to be subscription based.
I also ran across the real estate site YourStreet.com, which has user generated content and in some respects is similar to StreetAdvisor.com, only more developed.
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April 20, 2007 at 9:20 pm
Greg, thanks for mentioning eNeighbors in the ever-maturing hyper local space. In regards to the business model, scale is precisely what we are trying to achieve. There are over 250,000 HOAs and managed communities in the U.S. If we can capture 10% of that market, we should have over 6 million users in our network. Additionally, our service is currently subscription based.
Be sure to check out our blog — http://eneighbors.wordpress.com/ — for the latest on our efforts to connect local communities across our country.
– Phil
April 20, 2007 at 9:47 pm
Thanks for the clarification. In that specialized context a subscription model would potentially work and relieve you of the pressure to totally ad fund it.
April 21, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Interesting – any ZIP code that is actually using the system? I tried a few from the LA/NY areas, came up empty.
April 22, 2007 at 3:49 am
Greg… check out Front Porch Forum too. We’re hosting 130 contiguous neighborhood forums covering all of one metro area… Burlington, VT. In our first half-year, about 4,000 households have subscribed to our free community-building service… a remarkable response (9%). A sponsorship program is underdevelopment. -Michael
Michael Wood-Lewis
Front Porch Forum
FPF progress: http://frontporchforum.com/blog/?cat=9
Member quotes: http://frontporchforum.com/testimonials
Media reports: http://frontporchforum.com/about/press.php
April 22, 2007 at 11:55 pm
AhmedF –
We currently only have communities in the Kansas City area actively using the service. Our new product release has only been available for about 6 weeks, and we are now selling the service nationally.
You can enter 12345 and access our demo site if you’d like to see how the service works. Follow the login instructions on the sign in page (right column) to gain entry. Here are a few zip codes of actual users, but you can only view their public sign in page — 66224, 66214, 66226.
– Phil Freund
April 23, 2007 at 1:44 am
Wait color me confused – I cannot view a community (ie a zip) because … ?
April 23, 2007 at 2:18 pm
AhmedF, if I’m understanding your confusion correctly, you’re wondering why you can’t see any of the communities…? Only members of those actual neighborhoods can sign in and view the content and participate. Privacy and security is the top concern for our clients. Yes, we are a social network, but it’s exclusive. Just like Facebook .
To see the tool and how it works, you should use the demo site zip code: 12345.
Does that help?
April 23, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Got it, and I find it odd – if I was going to move, I would love to read about the neighbourhood – why exactly is it closed?
April 23, 2007 at 4:58 pm
AhmedF, email at phil.freund@eneighbors.com, and I can talk more about the model we set up for our tool. There are specific reasons why we did it this way based on our customers’ feedback. Thanks.