Archive for December, 2008

What is the Hyper-Local Internet and How Will It Change?

Dec 30, 2008 Live Local

Because it has become so difficult to find relevant information for a given area, many sites are attempting to tap into the need for what they are calling “Hyper-Local.” These sites provide a search that generates content based on neighborhoods and zip-codes. There is no doubt there are many people without a solid resource for local content. Most people resort to the large search engines to find something in their local area because there isn’t a site that can offer them an all encompassing local search.

So what does an all encompassing local search site look like?

Obviously each new site that arrives on the hyper-local scene thinks they have this question answered. Yelp, Citysearch, Citysquares, Brownbook, and Outsidein are all sites that have emerged and have been successful in providing a search engine that searches based on zip-code.

We have set out to solve what the next step will be in the hyper-local internet. Initially we tried to sum up what a local search site is capable of providing it’s users:

  • Small businesses having trouble competing on Google have a smaller, more targeted, arena to promote themselves.
  • People looking for something within a specific location have a way to send a search and get direct results within their area.
  • User reviews allow people to find out more about a local business
  • Compiles local voices into a single area

What we realized was that none of the sites providing a hyper-local search create the feeling of a community online. The sites merely find the information and display it for the user instead of allowing for a place for them to interact, create, and be a member of a larger community. After all, the beauty of a small town is the feeling of community you get from interactions.

With TownSync we decided to create the feeling of a local community online. Our solution involved allowing people, businesses and organizations to interact all within the same framework, similar to a real community. Essentially what we are attempting to do is combine the best aspects of social networking with hyper-local search.

What are the best aspects of your local community? How would you want to see this online? Feel free to add relative responses in the comments below.

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How to help small community businesses.

Dec 22, 2008 Businesses, Community, Live Local, TownSync

What is the best way to support local businesses?

This is a question we continually ask ourselves, and is one of the major factors for starting this site. Small businesses are having a tough time these days, and we want to help them! With a struggling economy, multiple wars, and consumers spending less, businesses are struggling to maintain their customers and compete with big conglomerates.

At the same time, people are having just as much trouble convincing themselves to shop at local markets rather than the corporate supermarket. There is a common misconception that there is always a lower price at the bigger market. The truth is, many of these businesses have been forced to lower prices along with the large chain stores but their clients aren’t getting this message. How are they supposed to know that the new “iPod” or your daily groceries cost the same at the local market or local electronic store? We would argue that if people new this, and weren’t influenced by the overwhelming TV ads, they would choose to buy from local businesses.

After asking ourselves many questions about this tough situation for people and businesses, we started to change that initial question to a more unified one:

How can we help businesses market effectively while helping consumers stay informed?

While constructing our concept we asked ourselves this question constantly. We knew there had to be a way for businesses and people to get together in a social community, talk to each other, make friends, announce events, and interact like they would in a real town. That community is TownSync. TownSync offers a place where a user’s calendar can be synced to another’s, where businesses can interact with the people in town, where users can post events and sales, and where target markets can be created to effectively market and promote a company for FREE.

We firmly believe that people would shop at local stores if they new prices were similar. TownSync is our attempt to create a platform where businesses can provide this information to their consumer.

We are extremely excited for the public to get their eyes on this social site that is sure to change the way people connect locally on the internet!

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Franchise Your Town(Sync)!

Dec 18, 2008 Businesses, Newspapers, TownSync

In order for people to enjoy visiting their local TownSync page we need a solid network of users in each town. Although some people and businesses might enjoy spreading the word about their TownSync profile, we know we will need a way to reach people in towns all across the United States. To expect that the site will grow virally (like facebook or myspace) is a hard concept to “bank” on.

At the same time, we realize that local newspapers are looking for ways to gain exposure online and grow their revenue sources. As small town guys, we appreciate local businesses and local media, and with the shift in consumer tendency toward online a lot of newspapers are feeling the pain (especially in today’s economy). Therefore we’ve developed a way to answer the following 2 questions:

  1. How do we gain media exposure in local communities across the country?
  2. How can we help local newspapers gain exposure online while growing revenue?

The answer is in the TownSync Franchise Program!

Newspapers buy TownSync zip-codes in their area (the cost is based on users). In return, we offer to share a certain % of revenue in the zip-codes they purchase. All we expect in return is for these papers to notify people about the site; write articles, post adds, and ultimately help us spread the word. We hope that Newspapers see the program as a cost effective way to increase revenue online. As much as it will help our local exposure, we are just as excited about the opportunity to help local media.

Let us know what you think! And if you know anyone that works at a local Newspaper, tell them to shoot us a message if they like the idea. (The earlier you sign up, the less expensive it is to buy a zip code)

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Get to Know Your Town with TownSync

Dec 17, 2008 Community, TownSync

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about TownSync when he asked me the question:

“So you’re like a Facebook for towns, right?”

My response was a not-so-simple, “No… Not that we are nothing like them, just more like a wiki + marketplace + travel-site + social-community + calendar.” Obviously that’s a ridiculous way of describing it, and of course he didn’t understand what I meant by that, but once I explained details of the site – like how profiles for towns are editable by citizens (wiki), there are classifieds in each zip-code (marketplace), businesses have pages that connect with locals (social), there are forums so everyone can talk (community), and everyone gets a calendar that syncs to anyone else – he started to get the idea.

“What TownSync offers,” I said to him, “is a place for people to have an input on their town and everything within it.”

His next question was about looking into other towns. I responded by explaining that although a member is connected with their local zip-code, they can always look at other towns, search through them, rate businesses, and more.

We continued talking about how the site will benefit people traveling in the US, how it can help people looking to move to another town, and how it will help local economies. A town’s profile is editable by anyone with a matching zip-code. He also came up with a few more benefits I hadn’t considered yet:

“The group editing of towns,” he said, “will allow a more honest view of a local community to shine through.”

His point was that because the citizens of a town can edit their town’s information (plus photos and comments) as a group, the only things left will be settled on by the entire town. It’s like getting an unbiased opinion about your town and others.

I encourage people reading this blog to ask us questions about the site. These questions will bring up more beneficial conversations like this one and will affect our decisions about the site directly, which helps us make the site better for you.

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Are You Living Local?

Dec 5, 2008 Community, Live Local

TownSync is curious what sort of towns our viewer’s live in, and what issues are going on within them.

Now is an especially difficult time for everyone in the US and we are interested to hear what’s happening in local town’s across the country. Are people nervous? Optimistic? Apathetic?

Some people we have talked to haven’t seen much of a change in their day to day lives, but many others have already lost their job, or are preparing for the worst.

One interesting account we came across was a discussion about some local communities beginning to use more of a barter system in lieu of these tough times. Instead of using common currency they are using notes that are not effected by the struggling economy. One way this benefits a local town is it weeds out the big corporations, and grows the local businesses. Keeping the local economy growing benefits everyone in the community – it prevents job loss and it keeps the money local.

If you are living local (or attempting to) we’d love to hear about it – use the comments below to tell us your first hand account of your local community!

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