For example Yelp are doing their parties and targeting to a relatively specific audience focusing on relatively specific audiences (not so much plumbing, more bars and restaurants). Those of us who have more, uh, mature users need different services (more lawyers, floor installers and hotels say) and thus need to be encouraged in different ways.

- ask

2. Perhaps when phrase that way. But the *answer* never actually made that connection. It just said ‘we are aggregating UGC reviews’

3. I don’t really think so. A business registering and providing information is not an ‘end-user’ providing info. The perceptions of the two can be easily different.

I’m glad you mentioned about the qualifier - ZipLocal claimed to have seen great growth on ‘filtering’ over the months. Yet when did they launch it? Nov 1

1) nashville.com is not a newspaper company. They don’t have a traditional brand, nor traditional assets (offline relationships and content) to converge. Many of our newspaper partners are working very hard to extend their local advertising business from print to print+web, and their PG directory is a central part of that effort. Our customers have created and sold thousands of directory ads across our network, and many are telling me 2008 will be an even bigger push. Check this example out as an example of integrating video ads into a PG directory. This for a GateHouse Media newspaper: http://yellowpages.totallylocal.com/search.pg?q=storage&z=Rochester%2C+NY

2) I think users are more likely to add a review of a business when they see another review they disagree with. So “seeding” your review base does address your question re how to stimulate more UGC. But I agree it’s a more subtle point than the second part of my answer.

3) I’m not sure I agree that UGC is generally accepted to be users but not business owners. If it is, it’s splitting hairs, because I doubt anyone would argue that rich business content is every bit as important as consumer reviews. In fact we had a lengthy discussion on the panel about refining searches based on an increasingly rich collection of search qualifiers such as kosher, vegetarian, kid-friendly, handicapped access, etc. In most cases those incredibly useful search qualifiers will come form the business owner themselves.

Good discussion! It’s like our very own panel

So:

1. About PremierGuide - yes you guys have a lot of local media companies using it. But I fail to see any real convergence - it seems to be purely an SEO play. As witnessed by Nashville.com when they removed the links to the local. subdirectory.

2. My UGC question was simple - how are companies actively trying to get users to participate. Aggregiation has *nothing* to do with my question. Your second part does better - you should have skipped the first part completely

3. Again - aggregation is not UGC. Boorah aggregates. OpenList aggregates. Plus - neither of those three are local media (so the convergence issue is out). And I think UGC is generally accepted as consumers, not business owners.

4. I *DO* definitely think Local.com should be part of the discussion. You guys are in a very interesting position - no large backing (Google Yahoo), no previously large presence (Super Pages, Yellow Pages), and are making your own stake (part of it being in the context of a local domain). I’m just not sure if this was the right fit (and the same imo would apply to ZipLocal for that panel).

5. I suggest you suggest the UGC panel - I don’t have the caché that Local.com provides I’m going to angle more for a ‘what are data brokers doing to go from the offline world to the online world’ - where I will be best suited to rant and rave

And I totally appreciate the own nickel issue - it ain’t cheap, but it is the best place to get business done.

Thanks for your post. Let me start with a correction and respond to some of your comments.

Correction:
The panel was not “the UGC panel”. It was the “Convergence of Local Media and Directories” panel. Check the agenda: http://www.kelseygroup.com/ilm2007/agenda_day2.asp

Responses:

Why was local.com there?
> Well, remember the panel was about the convergence of local media and directories. Thanks to their acquisition of my old company (PremierGuide), Local.com is the #1 provider of online directories to local media companies with 400+ newspaper partners since 2004.

PremierGuide didn’t answer my UGC question!
> First, I agree with you that the field of dreams approach doesn’t work too well with UGC. In addressing your question I got out the first part of my answer, which is to ensure a critical mass of UGC to encourage other users to add their own comments (addressing the no one likes to be first syndrome). The second part, that I couldn’t get to because I was trying not to hog the panel, was that we need to identify WHY users don’t submit content and try to eliminate those points of friction. The example I often use is the registration/authentication that is generally required before posting a review on local search sites. I have argued in the past for a more blog-comment-like mechanism where no registration is required. Much like my comment here. It has some side-effects (easier to spam the system) but might help. Folks like Insider Pages have experimented with bribes, like Starbucks cards, but they also have undesirable side-effects too. I agree with you that better organization of reviews would help (bubbling reviews liked by other users to the top, pushing axe-grinders down, etc.) using Amazon-like community-driven mechanisms to review the reviewers! I think the overriding issue is that, barring an atrocious experience, most people just don’t care enough to rate/review a plumber or electrician.

Why is Local.com talking about UGC when they don’t have any on their site?!
> Actually, we have lots of UGC on local.com. Like Google and others, we pull in UGC from Yelp, Judy’s Book, Insider Pages, etc. Very soon we will allow our users to supplement third party ratings/reviews with their own, again just like Google. Finally, we have allowed business to submit information about their business (description, business hours, products and service details, discounts, credentials, etc.) for years.

I agree with you re the Kelsey shows. When running a two-man company on my own nickel I hadn’t done one in many years. Coming back was a fantastic experience. Superb presentations, smart presenters, great insights, excellent analysis and unparalleled networking. I’m already looking forward to the next one. Will you suggest a UGC panel or shall I?

Great post, look fwd: to your ilm07 conference - positive stuff reviews. Like you, I’m also confused with MCHX local-site agenda - besides their large portfolio of geo-names. As for LOCM, do you have any views regarding its U.S. Patent No. 7,231,405 they were awarded for local search? …