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Take Another Look at MapQuest Local

Folks . . . for those that didn’t get a chance to look at MapQuest Local yesterday, take a look. It’s a very interesting approach and strategy on AOL’s part. Why?

Here’s why in my view:

  • This is a local site/dashboard that could well become a start page for many (that’s saying quite a bit).
  • Third parties and other publishers will help build out the content (AOL is actively encouraging this: Local 2.0)
  • Accordingly, it could become a great place for third party local distribution (effectively a “Facebook Platform” for local)
  • It can be customized: users define the product’s scope for themselves. This completely avoids the question: should we (as a publisher) include events, coupons, products, news? Everything can be included and users choose what they want

It remains to be seen how many publishers and users show up and do all these things. But it’s a fresh approach to local. Others I’ve spoken to have conceptually similar ideas but so far haven’t launched them.

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This entry was posted on September 10, 2008 at 8:11 am and is filed under Internet Yellow Pages, Local Search, Verticals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

4 Responses to “Take Another Look at MapQuest Local”

  1. India developers Says:
    September 11, 2008 at 5:22 am

    Hey! just discovered your blog.nice read.

  2. Mihmorandum | The Value of the Yellow Pages for Small Businesses Today | General Marketing Says:
    September 15, 2008 at 4:59 pm

    […] laughable. And just this week, Mapquest, which hasn’t been a competitor to date, took another giant leap into an online space that the YellowPages should really be owning, or at the very least trying to […]

  3. Understanding Google Maps & Yahoo Local Search » Hitwise Maps Market Share | Developing Knowledge about Local Search Says:
    October 3, 2008 at 3:57 pm

    […] market share primarily at the expense of Mapsquest and to a lesser extent Yahoo. Mapquest’s recent strong upgrade seems to have slowed that trend but it remains to be seen whether that will translate to long term […]

  4. 2008, Mapquest is back? Says:
    November 11, 2008 at 3:44 pm

    […] 9 Septembre 2008. Chose promise, chose due. Deux semaines après la nouvelle homepage, la société filiale d’AOL lance “Mapquest local”. Mapquest essayerait donc de mettre en place un type de page d’accueil tournée vers le local. En bref, un netvibes ou iGoogle local. La société présente une nouvelle approche du local pour se démarquer de Google. Elle veut s’appuyer sur les 47,4 millions de visiteurs uniques par mois pour attirer les fournisseurs de contenus via WiredBlog, ScreenWerk. […]

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