

We need another communication platform... fb/Twitter/email don't cut it - krausejj

we have created so many ways of pushing/pulling content from friends/followers, but often these are closed networks - my friends are your friends... we follow the same thing.  how do you reach actual communities - like your neighborhood?<p>we've tried to solve this problem with a website called http://skychalk.com, and we'd love your feedback.<p>ours is a new spin on sharing - you post something to a location - like fastening a flyer to a tree - and people view information by location.<p>please give us your thoughts / feedback - do we need to talk to our neighbors? do we already have too many avenues of communication?  is there room for another platform?<p>thanks for reading!
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frafdez
I like the idea but when I first read your description and went to the site, I
expected the equivalent of a cork board in an office lunchroom, which it does
do with "gatherings", but the rest feels like Foursquare tips or Yelp's
reviews. Basically, I thought it was something your going to read while you
wait for the coffee to brew that has targeted information about the office
"community" or "neighborhood". "I'm selling my car" or "Employee meeting on
Friday the 13th". I'm using the office as an analogy like you used the flyer
on the tree. But the true question here is why would I go to your site to find
this information? When I walk down the street I have no choice but to run into
the tree with the flyer. Then I might tell my neighbor that Cindy lost her
kitten and that she should look out for it. Maybe it's easier to start
spreading the local info on your site via word of mouth (existing social
networks) so that people hear about your tree (your site) and at some point
they'll get used to looking for the flyer on the tree.

Ok, sorry for the analogies and generalities.

I think it's going to be a challenge to get people to use it since most people
feel saturated by status updates / check-ins / review apps. I'd suggest trying
to leverage other social network api's in order to automatically group people
by location and also facilitate posting to your site. Maybe create a light
weight Facebook app that looks like a tree with flyers on it?

Hope this helps and good luck.

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krausejj
thanks for your thoughts. we'd like to have more gatherings/marketplace type
stuff on the site but that takes a certain critical mass - people know that on
craigslist their ad will be seen. our site is still trying to build traffic.

that's an interesting idea about trying to use facebook and then group by
location. but are facebook apps really the ticket anymore? it seems to me that
most facebook users are extremely hesitant to use apps anymore - especially
apps that post content automatically to walls, etc. and since our site only
collects an email address from each registered user, we just felt the
integration wasn't worthwhile.

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paul_stanley
Give all email a URI. email is essentially a file on a server but not
accessible by a URI. Invent email and text messaging that has a URI for each
message.

For local broadcasting within a neighborhood, develop a system where you can
send a message to cell phones with TV and radio as a failover.

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krausejj
wow, interesting ideas. i love this out of the box thinking!

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jacksondeane
I see this as just another channel, which might not be what we need. I'd love
to see a truly innovative service that combines the existing communication
platforms (fb, twitter, email, sms).

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krausejj
i just realized i wasn't replying correctly earlier - sorry about that - see
my response to this above

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fsethi
I think we do need to talk with our neighbors, but I suspect doing it in
person rather than online would strengthen your community connections more so.

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krausejj
jacksondeane - here's our opinion on that: the problem is communication intent
- twitter/fb are about communicating to followers. you tweet a beyonce video
from a cafe and your neighbors don't need to see that. but if you want to
advertise a garage sale or send a missed connection, you don't need (or want)
all your friend in nyc to see that. that's what we think the difference is.

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jaypreneur
It seems like this is also overlapping with Craigslist then?

If you want to advertise anything based on location, Craiglist is free and
widely used.

If you can really provide something uniquely useful to bring members then
people will come. I just don't know how much local neighborhoods care. You
could target neighborhood watchs, get-togethers, clubs, and, as you said,
advertising.

The thing is... all of those things are available in different forms
(meetup.com, craigslist, etc.).

I suppose bringing them together isn't a bad idea though. Surely if meetup,
craigslist, and other location-based services work, then there is a market for
this.

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krausejj
we hope so! what we don't like about the other services is the neighborhood
bucketing... you have to choose a (sometimes arbitrary) label for the area
you're looking at and can only browse in that way....

if you live in SF you know that these labels are constantly changing - better
to just give the user complete control. one person may want to look at two
blocks, someone else may want to browse an entire metro area.

thanks for the feedback!

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dave22
I guess there is already a proliferation of these sites popping up.

likealittle geosay chatnearme yours

more to come ...

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jared30248
Interesting idea. Wonder if it is too abstract for average users though

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chacotaco
Yeah. Agreed. I didn't get it at first until I zoomed out and saw what they
were doing in sf. Could be useful if they got more users and figured a way to
manage the noise.

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krausejj
thanks for the feedback. we definitely need more users. HN is denying me
another post because i'm posting too much but i'm actually curious of social
startup hackers on here have good ideas? mashable won't write us up so we're
trying to figure out how to get the word out.

also on the noise - we hope that eventually we get enough content that people
will vote and help us sort through the noise.

again, thanks for trying the site

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jared30248
Try a viral video or something?

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TMK
Seems actually pretty cool, though no-one near me using it yet.

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krausejj
well get us started in your area haha! it's the classic chicken/egg problem.
any advice on how to solve it?

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sjd
actually it looks suspiciously an aweful lot like chatnearme.com that has been
out for awhile :)

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krausejj
we never saw your site before we built this, and our ui is entirely different.
everyone is doing location right now

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sjd
looks a lot like what I did chatnearme.com check it out

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sjd
btw I have a mobile web application at the same url and you can see how many
people online in your circle

