Tag: burrp

Where are you @ ?

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to write about a shiny new toy here, but I believe we now have a service that can break the stranglehold of the holy trinity of Facebook, Google, Twitter – on this blog. 🙂 Say hi to Foursquare. Towards the second half of last year is when it was hailed by many, including Mashable, Scoble as the ‘next Twitter’/ bigger than Twitter. No, you don’t need to contradict that, that’s been done too.

Though I created an account a while back, I started using it actively last week. So what do I do on Foursquare? Well, I add places, check-in to places that have already been added by others, leave tips for people (no, not the waiters) and get points for doing all this. The places getting added are most usually F&B establishments, though that’s really up to you, because I’ve seen someone adding their own home too. Oh well. If you happen to check in many times, you get to be mayor of the place, until someone knocks you off. The guy who’s added his home, he happens to be mayor of his own home. 🙂 So, yes, it also works as a game, and you can import your friends from other networks. Status updating on Twitter and Facebook are also possible. Considering that I have more than 80 restaurant reviews on my other blog, I think Foursquare and I will get along just fine. 🙂

When I first checked in, I was reminded of Twitter back in 2007. There will obviously be more features built in, it will evolve, just like Twitter has. Location based marketing is only beginning. But unlike Twitter’s cycle, things are faster now. Foursquare already has brand engagement and perhaps even revenue plans. I’d written earlier on Pepsi using Foursquare to fund Camp Interactive. Adage recently had a very good article on potential Foursquare revenue models, with separate working models for small local businesses, brands with retail chains and large multinational brands like Pepsi. Businesses are already testing out coupons based on preferences, for customers in the locality. Many places have Mayor specials. No, Barista, MG Road, Bangalore, obviously doesn’t have one.

In addition to the obvious models, Foursquare has also signed deals with HBO (for a new series called How to make it in America) , Warner (for the new movie Valentine’s Day) , the History channel etc, complete with tips and badges. The other interesting tie-up is with Zagat, a food and restaurant review site, part of which is a weekly ‘Meet the Mayor’ guide. This is more experimenting than what poor Twitter had in its first couple of years, I’d say.

Foursquare already has a lot of competition – from Google Latitude Buzz to Loopt, MyTown, Gowalla etc. Loopt recently launched the LooptCard, which lets mobile consumers avail of offers, coupons and discounts by checking-in to spots. Gowalla recently opened up their API, and a report earlier stated that MyTown had surged past both Foursquare and Gowalla. Foursquare’s traffic has tripled in the last 2 months, but there’s more competition too – Yelp recently started mobile check ins, which is not really great news for players like Foursquare because of Yelp’s existing audience. Twitter has made its move on Local, starting with trends, and will surely expand in that domain. Google Buzz connects to Google Maps Place Pages and being a part of GMail, already has a huge user base!! (Read more about the implications here, here and here) And then of course, is the new 800 pound gorilla in everything social – Facebook. With more than 1.5 million local business listings, they are bound to make a play in local soon. In India, I wonder if one of my favourite services, Burrp, will make a game out of it.

Its amazing how the more things change, the more they remain the same. We’re now back to ‘Location, Location, Location’, but with the new layers of social, and behaviour added. 🙂

until next time, keep reading, maybe I’ll be handing out special Mayor invites soon :p

February 11, 2010
Flipping news models

Google’s Fast Flip has been receiving quite a lot of attention these days. Based on the Google News model of aggregation and categorisation, Google has partnered with quite few sources including BBC, BusinessWeek, Washington Post, New York time, to name a few, which shows previews of their pages on Fast Flip, but looks exactly like they would on the source site, almost. We’ll come to that in a bit. The stories can be accessed basis sources, sections and the other parameters we are used to – recent, most viewed, recommended etc. Oh, yes, much of it is the user interface, that lets you ‘flip’ through the content, ‘like’ stories, and you can click through to the source site, if you want to read the full story. It has its rough edges, and is far from being any sort of killer to anyone, but its a damn good start, much better than any interface that any publication has brought out so far. On the revenue front, there are contextual ads on Fast Flip itself, and Google will be sharing revenue with newspapers. It is interesting to note that the previews of the source sites do not include ads. So if I am able to read a story completely in the preview, (which in many cases I am), I wouldn’t go to the source site, nor would I see/click the ads there. This is potentially an area of conflict, since the (shared) revenue from the one ad that’s displayed on Fast Flip cannot compare with the revenue from the source site. Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to a time when perhaps, Google Reader will have a similar interface. 😉

In the last few weeks, this is the second instance of Google engaging with publications and ‘helping’ them create a revenue stream. The first instance was Google sending a proposal for micropayments, in response to a request for paid content proposals from the Newspaper Association of America. As per an NYTimes blog, this would be an extension of Google Checkout. Google is only one of the companies that have sent a proposal, and the list includes Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft. The system is of course in its early planning stages, and the business model has a 30-70 split (Google-publisher). Though Google still doesn’t believe that paying for content will be the remedy for newspapers’ woes, it still has a vision of a premium content ecosystem, which includes five key features that combine the Google’s e-commerce, search, and advertising platforms.

While Google is described by many as the single largest threat to newspapers, its definitely not the only one. From new hyperlocal community sites (eg. Patch) to remnants of old giants (AOL’s Digital City, Yahoo Local) and from new age media entities like Huffington Post to new and varied kinds of aggregators (Guzzle.it, OurSignal, MeeHive, Thoora) different services are catering to the different needs that newspapers used to satisfy. The important aspect is that the new entities are well versed in leveraging the latest tools and collaborating with those who can add to their utility value. A good example would be the tie up between Huffington Post and Facebook for HuffPost Social News. Social sharing, real time are changing the way news is being consumed. I recently read about The Twitter Times, which creates a customised ‘newspaper’ by checking the links from people you follow, and the popularity of those links. Even while massive changes are happening online, and affecting the lifestyle of individuals and society at large, newspapers are still grappling with how to evolve new business models. (a good, albeit dated read on battle plans)

There was a short but interesting discussion on Twitter a few days back, where Surekha brought up the example of PressDisplay’s business model (aggregation of various newspapers and consumers pay for access) to ask whether a DTH kind of model would work for newspapers. I didn’t think it would. The only other distribution network for television content is the local cable guy (ignoring the web for now). But ‘news’ and even the ‘features’ content can find its way to the consumer through multiple sources and media – TV, web, mobile, and multiple sources within that. The entry barriers have fallen drastically. Scarcity model vs Abundance model. Keeping in mind the cost that newspapers incur in creating the content and the incremental value that they give the consumer, how much would a consumer pay a newspaper aggregator, and how much would the newspapers get out of that. Yes, Press Display will make money, but ask newspapers to survive only on that revenue or even that plus web advertising, and it would be a tough task. This is why newspapers are finding it hard to negotiate this transition stage (discussed earlier) because its not one answer and its definitely not a common answer. Again, as I’ve discussed here earlier, there are inherent differences between news gathering processes in the print and online space – batch processing vs real time processing. It calls for a (albeit cliched) leaner meaner structure, not just for operations’ sake, but also perhaps from a profitability perspective.

The more I think about it, the more I realise that its not just processes, there is a cultural angle to this. As Terry Heaton points out in “The Web’s widening stream“, the knack of creating and facing disruptive innovations. We’ve discussed David and Goliath before, David becomes version 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 faster and faster, each version better than the other (because he fixes the bugs in 1.1, 2.5 etc) while Goliath reels because it can’t even figure out the answer to 1.0. His strength has become his weakness – scale, and he doesn’t have a culture that encourages moving fast, learning from mistakes, being open to changes amongst other things. In fact, newspapers have been lazy and guilty of doing the exact thing that Seth Godin warns about in “Flipping abundance and scarcity” – putting free on top of a business model, and now rapidly trying to change it.

I don’t think India is impervious to these changes, the time frame will vary because of several factors – technology adoption delays, vernacular content to name a couple, but as I keep repeating, its no time to be complacent. From Rediff and Instablogs which have evolved their own news collection systems to hyperlocal players of different kinds – governance based like Praja, Citizen Matters, local businesses review based like Burrp, and several other niches, the different domains of newspapers are being challenged. More importantly we’re increasingly getting used to ‘streams’ – FB, Twitter etc. The principal revenue model of newspapers has been advertising (as opposed to circulation), they have been the medium to reach audiences, with the most basic of audience filtering. The radical change (as Heaton points out) is that advertisers can be part of the stream themselves, with such filtration techniques that they can target an individual if necessary. So, for newspapers, if the advertiser won’t pay, the reader has to. The reader , meanwhile has figured out that on the web, he has an abundance of choices.

until next time, stop press?

September 24, 2009
Local Authorities

Towards the end of last year, I’d read a couple of very thoughtful posts on the subject of local networks. The first one was about how small towns had their own ways of communication and collaboration and were functioning as social networks long before technology came into the picture (actually all kinds of towns). The second was about the concept of re-localisation or Local 2.0 on RWW, about location based services and their relationship with technology. Since its been quite a while since I wrote ‘local stuff’ here, I thought this was a good time to make a few notes of how local information is being aggregated and how consumers access local data digitally.

There are several directions that come to mind when I think of local networks. I am quite a fan of Burrp, and rely on it to find out the new restaurants that have opened around town. (restaurant reviews are a major section in the personal blog) I absolutely love their mobile interface, and look forward to the weekly Wassup mailer. They also have TV listings, events, spa/gym listings and a lifestyle section now. This category of sites is something I’d covered earlier. Burrp has since been acquired by Infomedia 18, but its strength continues to be the community. But these categories are only one facet of local. There are are also those operating in niches like ticket booking (movies, plays and events eg. BuzzinTown), local discounts and offers (Letsheadto, Offersforshoppers, BangaloreCoupons etc), to name a few. And then there are sites which work more as directory listings. Pluggd.in recently had a good overview (with specific numbers) of the state of local search entities – AskLaila, Onyomo, Yahoo Local, Just Dial, Metromela and Burrp. If we go by directories, Sulekha is also a name that merits a mention. Maybe, in future, Burrp will be integrated into an entire directory like service under the web 18 group’s main site, so burrp.in.com 😉

Another access to local information is through generic search engines – from local players like Guruji which has a city specific search, to Google. (local businesses via maps, movies, which also throw up review results. No reason why the same cannot be applied to restaurants and other services) Yahoo also has a version of local search. Though it could do with some design tinkering and a better UI, there is potential, especially if they continue to work on services like Neighbours, which adds an Answers layer to Local.

The third option I considered is mobile. In addition to the basic way of calling up a number for local search (like JustDial), search by SMS (JustDial, asklaila, onyomo, Google, Google Voice Search, Vodafone-MSN, Yahoo etc..its a pretty long list) and access through mobile web, or even things like the Ovi Lifecasting + Ovi Maps feature in the Nokia N97, using Facebook, I was interested in what could be tangential options. Adage had a good read on how location changes everything in digital marketing/experiences. Very bullish (I agree with the author), but sample this

Search, for example, solved a big part of the “what” problem — helping you find what you’re looking for. And while search didn’t know much about our social filters, social networking came in and offered up a “who” filter. Now we’re looking at the “where.” And it’s the combination of these filters that have the potential to change consumer and marketer behavior.

There are services like Brightkite, (recently acquired by Limbo) a location based social networking site that allows users to ‘check in’ using SMS, see people who are/have been there/nearby, and then add updates/photos to the place, which means that places have their ‘placestreams’ too. Sometime back, I had read about Zcapes – an augmented reality application – a mini blog platform on the mobile similar in concept to placestreams. On registration, you can make your own zcape for an object/event or even an activity (watching a TV show), and search for real conversations about a particular keyword (object/event/activity). The augmented reality comes in this way – in addition to being able to share on Twitter/mail etc, after creation fo the zcape, the service provides an image of a QR barcode which you could easily stick somewhere in the real world. (RWW has a cool diagram here which explains how this connects the real and virtual worlds). [You should also read some more very interesting applications based on augmented reality like the MOBVIS project, and Yelp’s recent ‘secret’ tool in its iPhone app, which when unlocked – by shaking the device three times!! – pops up Yelp reviewed establishments on your mobile screen, showing locations, ratings, and reviews for restaurants in your surrounding area!!). The recent Mobilize event also had a session on location aware mobile ads.

And then we have Twitter. Twitter’s simplicity means that location based services as well as local businesses can easily have a presence on the network and offer real time assistance to consumers. I have seen both asklaila and burrp on Twitter, and the former seems to be doing some good work. Search Engine Land wrote recently about Idearc’s Superpages account on Twitter, which uses the Superpages database to answer local search queries using DM. This can be used by other local search players too. TC had an article a few days back on another 411 service IMShopping, a human- powered shopping search site and Twitter shopping service. Twitter recently changed its TOS, leaving the door open for advertising. Twitter would do well to push the use of Twitter Connect.

And finally Facebook. While Facebook may not have done anything drastic so far in the local domain, the sheer amount of users, and their data is in itself a reason to look at the potential. There are services like Living Social, which operate in the review space, and which utilise the Facebook user base (among others) for increasing its reach. Facebook’s search now also shows web search results, powered by Bing. Now add to this its recent acquisition Friendfeed’s ability to aggregate data from various services, and finally add (potentially) the ability to add real time data to these search results from friends or further degrees of connections. This search could be any of things we discussed in local search – movies, restaurants, events, discounts, even regular directory listed services. That makes it vanilla search + real time+ social layer. The addition of the @ tags feature (like Twitter) means that it will be easier for people to share experiences with each other or to invite others. Though there are several things to iron out in this feature (privacy, security), also included will be the ability to add businesses/events etc through tags. So, through FB pages businesses can give basic information on FB itself, and even display @conversations directed at them. Now we’re talking, eh? But the killer feature (though nothing new) hasn’t been mentioned yet. Facebook Connect, which is being used by local hyperlocal services like City Search to add a social layer to search. This can be added to any local listings site/event etc, and add an additional benefit to searches done inside Facebook. Incidentally, you can log in to Brightkite using FB Connect too. Recently Facebook also announced that they’re launching ‘Facebook Connect for the Mobile Web‘.

[ Have consciously not included traditional media. But in case you want to add to the above five directions, please do so in the comments section, and I shall update the post.]

So many options. For users to find the content they want, and for businesses to appear in context – place and time. An understanding of the intent of the search -from both sides would be essential for gratification. As the mashup of reality and virtuality progresses at a furious pace, the importance of local search will increase. Accuracy – including semantic ability, real time, social experience, all will play a part. Google is Google because of what it made out of data, search and contextual ads. Google is already moving in on the local web yellow pages in many markets, but as discussed above, they may not be the only players in the game. I think local search might be a more difficult battle.

until next time, location, location, location

September 17, 2009
News out of the paper

Its not exactly breaking news that newspapers are almost in desperation mode now (no, don’t throw ink at me, this is in the US market context) to make sense of the wild wild web, as the very public who used to pay for the print editions now want it on the web, and more importantly for free. An issue that newspapers are still grappling with. So, with fears of revenue models collapsing, RSS feeds, PDF editions, user generated content, podcasts etc are now being force fed into print journalism regular usage. (How American Newspapers Used the Internet in 2008).

The point to note is that the internet with advertising as a revenue model is not going to be the salvation, web entities which rely on that are also going to be in trouble. There are some experiments happening in the news space online as well – News Mixer is a great example, it aggregates content and has integrated Facebook Connect for users to comment on stories. The integration eliminates anonymous handles and also means that it can highlight the views of your friends so that you can know what their take on a story is. (via RWW) A member of Yahoo’s BOSS team has found a great way to use Twitter’s search function and relevance (different tweets to the same story) for fresh news and come up Tweet News. Ice Rocket’s Big Buzz pulls different live sources (Twitter, Flickr, You Tube etc) on to a single page. (via Steve Rubel) In fact, I see the last one as a sort of threat for Google News – real time news, a scenario which can be extended into the larger context of Google Search soon, because I don’t think Google has cracked real time yet (from what I see around).

Meanwhile, hyper local entities are being created to fill the gaps being created by local newspapers shutting down. But while the monopolistic doyens are struggling, there is a paradox happening, new media empires might be getting created as web entities are making forays into print- The Printed Blog, is launching a twice-daily free print newspaper in cities across the US aggregating localized blog posts. (via Wired)

In fact, though the state of the Indian print media is not the same as in the US, the same phenomenon (web to print) is happening here too – Mutiny, which started in 2006, and wants to be India’s Huffington Post, launched its print edition a few months back. Burrp, which started with restaurant reviews, and later expanded into lifestyle events, and TV listings, apparently have a few print plans of their own.

So there must be potential in the 2 cents of journalism (Seth Godin’s excellent post on the death of newspapers) even as there is the danger of ‘right now’ news. Seth Godin rightly says that “The web has excelled at breaking the world into the tiniest independent parts.” The challenge for newspapers will be to find the 2 cents that they can provide and people will pay for.

In India, low figures of net penetration mean that the US levels of ubiquitousness will take a while. But the mobile could be a bigger threat in the short and long term. Various players like SMSGupshup, MyToday, Mobme etc already offer subscription based services, though the source seems to be mainstream media sources. Newspapers have long relied on distribution might to thwart specific competition. But with a digital platform, that is nullified. From my consumption needs, the only thing I cant seem to find online are the hyperlocal news (that also includes local retail deals and discounts – eg. Springfield had a 60% off sale in bangalore last week, try searching for it online). So far, in India, all the tiny independent parts that Godin has spoken of, haven’t been brought online. In that sense, the net’s utlity is incomplete in an Indian context. The real threat will start when that happens. With their huge network of reporters/other sources, is there a digital revenue model for newspapers in the real-time and/or hyperlocal news space?

The double whammy for newspapers is brought out due to the fact that advertising is the major revenue source for most newspapers in India. Most of the brand ads that I see in English dailies is targeting the young urban dweller. This segment is becoming increasingly net savvy, and I feel that brands will figure this out in the short term.

Vernacular dailies might be a better off in this regard, since even if net penetration in their major markets accelerates, (read about the government’s rural internet plans here – CSCs) vernacular content is not yet at challenging levels. (the IAMAI-IMRB report on rural and state of vernacular content in India). There is an opportunity for newspapers here, especially the vernacular ones and even those which can translate English content into vernacular.

until next time, selling news on platforms

PS. Toy for you -HP’s Tabbloid – start your own newspaper 😉

January 22, 2009
Talk of the Town

A while back I’d read about Burrp, which started out as a great restaurant reviews site, expanding into lifestyle events – Art, Dance, Fashion, Film, Fairs & Festivals, Theater, and so on. Check out the entire bunch here. They’d also added TV listings. While it’s quite a diversification, I thought it was quite in sync with what they were doing so far, but it also means that it broadens their competition.

Among the bunch in the link mentioned, I thought Yulop was a great package, with their services spread across web and mobile. Meanwhile, I’ve been coming across a lot of websites appearing in the restaurant based services space – Grubhogs , which has reviews, and already shows the beginning of an event calendar, and A Place to Dine, which, in addition to listings, also allows for online orders and table reservations, and services for restaurant owners from website setting up and hosting to loyalty programs. It even has mobile versions. A very interesting path.

I guess these new services ‘justify’ Burrp’s move into the events space, an expansion of the value proposition. I found some interesting associations here. Burrp has tie ups with Mirror (The Times Group) websites- Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata. I also read today that Buzzintown has tied up with MyToday SMS services, to provide its users events related information on the mobile, in three cities.

There are some very cool happening in the events space. Buzzd , a service in the US allows the user to find and share local events on the mobile. They have recently tied up with Virgin to provide data to the operator’s subscribers. I’m not sure on how the numbers are for city based searches on mobile, but I wonder if Yulop, with all their services and info, could benefit by tying up with an Airtel/ Vodafone. While on local events, Placecast, which describes itself as “the world’s largest place-based interactive media company” has tied up with Eventful to produce some interesting location based advertising options. (via Mashable)

With the increasing usage of social networks, even events are finding their own long tails. So there are services which offer event planning for smaller groups. And while there are several event planning services available (including an Indian one called Funpiper), Doodle scores by having a facebook application that lets users collaborate on events. It also sends emails to non-Facebook users. Another service that stands out is Zipiko, which offers event planning on mobile.(via Center Networks)

But before we get there, I think there’s a lot of scope for city based social networks, especially the mobile version. I came across an interesting net based service – Fwix, which, in addition to the usual stuff, and integration with Twitter, Yelp, Flickr etc, shows you “the most relevant and trendy information and media in your local area. It aggregates about 500,000 news stories per day, and delivers roughly 2,000 relevant news stories of those 500,000.” (via Startup Meme). But i guess, that will take us back to this earlier post of mine.

until next time, text and the city

September 12, 2008