Will Social Media & Smart Phones Drive Localization of the Web?
The Web is often thought of as a place of “national” or “global” news, opinions and ideas. Search Engines continue to struggle with delivering “localized” content that is relevant to the user. Google users will find that when they enter search terms they’ll get delivered results that are mostly national in scope with a smattering of local content. This is similar to other Tier 1 engines like Yahoo! and MSN, since the advertisers are usually looking to do business with closer prospects. Yet “localization” continues to be an issue.
Social Media through Social Network channels like Facebook and MySpace however, offer a much more “local” opportunity to marketers. Local content continues to be driven by local newspapers with websites. Major cities are seeing better local content sites popping up, but they are still relatively few. In the UK, the site Potholes.co.uk endeavors to get people to lost major potholes and get their local Council to fix them. Then MyStreet.com is trying to get very local. Despite the lack of community oriented content, people are having highly local discussions, mostly through Social Networking sites.
Through our research, we think part of the solution to increased local content will come from Smart Phones in alignment with localized Web content services beyond just Social Networking sites. With Smart Phones today, GPS and applications like Twitter Mobile enable faster, instant access to Social Media with instant publishing. They are easy to use and data pricing packages are falling (albeit slower in Canada) thus opening opportunities to make content relevant.
This benefits the consumer who can quickly and easily rate or comment on local services such as a plumber or roofer. Restaurants get faster reviews…more power is in the hands of the consumer. This also represents significant challenges for local businesses who don’t have the resources to hire a PR agency or counsel if things go sour with an agitated customer.
Do you think Smart Phones and the localization of Web media and Social Media will drive increased content? Have any highly localized sites to share? What are the implications?