Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi all,

http://www.myfriendsuggests.com

We just released our version 2 of our site, myfriendsuggests.com.  The site allows you to rate your favorite bars, restaurants, clubs, doctores, barbershops, etc... then it uses your ratings, combined with those of the people in your friend network to create customized suggestions for YOU!.  It also creates a similarity rating for you and every other user on the site so you can find out which reviewers you have the most in common with.  There are lots of other neat features as well.

I`d love any feedback especially on whether the message of the site is clear. 

Thanks.

Frank

http://www.myfriendsuggests.com

Hi Frank :-)
Looks like a nice site, sort of like Craig`s List. But I do have a suggestion, based on having seen certain initial limits that changed later, with Craig`s List.

Why not use a field to capture the visitor`s ZIP code?

Then you can have a page that allows someone to enter a place and its city/town and state. Don`t need the whole address.

It`d work like this:

• Vistor arrives, not yet registered.
• Enters ZIP for whatever--their town or some other destination
• Up comes list of currently listed places.
• Vistor can:
• View what`s there
• Add comment
  
• Create new listing
• To create a listing or Add a comment requires registration, after which the personalized recommendations come into play.
  

I think Craig`s List was limited in the beginning because it only gave certain cities. As it grew, it franchised out to other cities, but those are run by someone with a different mindset, following Craig`s List guidelines. Even so, it`s still limited to big places.

For your idea, which I think is really cool, why limit it at all?

Suppose I live in BooFoo, North Dakota? I might be the only person who`s been there, been to a bar, and had a great time. If I can list it, and put in my review, who knows whether someone else might be on their way to, or going to college in BooFoo?

Maybe? I can see this as a huge revenue success, as entertainment places try to get listed. :-) Sort of like Michelin`s Guide...

Thanks for the reply.

Just so I understand you correctly, your suggesting unregistered users be allowed to add new comments without registering?  I`ve thought about that but thought the spam would be horrible.

I do like the idea of not asking for city state on registration screen since I can look that up based on Zip code.

I`ve also been toying with the idea of a "dumbed down" suggestion generator that is available to non-registered users. The challenge is that what makes this site unique (IMO) is the suggestions and the concept of the friend network, both of which only really work if a user is registered.  So my focus is to make them a) want to register and b) easy to register.

Thanks again for your thoughts, any more are also appreciated!

 

And how does registration prevent spam?  Do you perform a secondary validation?  Have you looked at Yahoo Groups lately - which requires registration.

I thought your idea was more like `angieslist.com` than `craigslist.com`.  Angies list is exactly like your project but it lists people`s experience with home contractors.  (Angieslist is growing so fast that I wish that I had an early position with her company).



-------------------------

Steve Mann
Internet Videographer
MannMade Digital Video
My Email

Good point.  I plan on adding some additional validation to the registration but as it is it doesn`t prevent spamming.

I wouldn`t say the site is like craiglist or angieslist really... but closer to angieslist.  It`s sort of like Yelp and angieslist combined, but its different in that once your registered you will see much more personalized information whether it be the similarity rating between you and another user or personalizes suggestions that use your previous ratings and those of people like you to `guess` how you`d like other places you haven`t been.

As I see my big challenge is that most of the `cool` features require registration and like all social networking type sites it requires many users to truly provide value to everyone.

 

Startup Nation has (presumably from the git-go) used a real human person to regularly comb the forums and remove spam. Personally, I think it`s a job function for a regular employee in any online organization. At least until someone figures out a useful way to automate the process.

So balance the two points: Require registration and lose casual new visitors, or accept a possible issue with spam, but open up the site for anyone with some thoughts.

Which is better? Microsoft or Open Source? :-)

Thanks,  We plan on looking into offering more features for users who are not registered.

Has anyone registered?  I`m curious if people feel there is a much better set of functionality for the registered users?

Thanks!

Frank

 

You would probably get more response from us if you just set up a dummy account and give us the particulars.


-------------------------

Steve Mann
Internet Videographer
MannMade Digital Video
My Email