4 ms·

Edward - don't let the nay-sayers get you down. Here's a few pieces of advice. First of all, for all of the users who don't sign up and are merely there to look

Edward - don't let the nay-sayers get you down. Here's a few pieces of advice. First of all, for all of the users who don't sign up and are merely there to look around and maybe catch some reviews, the site has no local focus.(I recently read somewhere that a typical site with user generated content can expect around a 10:1 ratio of readers to creators - so this group should be important to you). I'm not particularly interested in seeing a Google map of reviews from Connecticut when I'm in Portland Oregon. I feel like you would do well to pick one or two cities, and focus your resources on reaching critical mass in those markets. I think what you have is cool. Talk to your friends and enable them with digital cameras. A lot of people eat out once or twice a day and even a few of these people using your site will really rev up the user experience in a given city. After you have 100, maybe 200 reviews. Reach out to local bloggers, small local papers, and some of your favorite restaurant owners. Maybe even print up some info and go talk to some of the more interesting restaurants in your area. Restaurant owners love getting reviews, and many will be happy to speak your praises to their customers in hopes of a good review.

elialfordj 19y ago
One last thing. When someone tells you that "people wont be interested in X", you need to seriously consider what they are really saying. For instance, "tx" says "is it so hard to accept that ppl dont' give a rat's a$$ about "blogging" about stuffing themseves with food? People like to talk about THEMSELVES. This is what drives social network sites." His claim that there isn't a mass appeal for restaurant blogging or reviews is legitimate. There probably inst. But there's definitely a market for consumption of that content, I won't even bother listing examples. He obviously doesn't know enough about content generation to understand the concept of power users and the influence they can have on a service like this. Anyway - You might even consider subsidizing meals to help generate content in the beginning depending on your available resources. Goodluck!

elialfordj 19y ago

One last thing. When someone tells you that "people wont be interested in X", you need to seriously consider what they are really saying. For instance, "tx" says "is it so hard to accept that ppl dont' give a rat's a$$ about "blogging" about stuffing themseves with food? People like to talk about THEMSELVES. This is what drives social network sites." His claim that there isn't a mass appeal for restaurant blogging or reviews is legitimate. There probably inst. But there's definitely a market for consumption of that content, I won't even bother listing examples. He obviously doesn't know enough about content generation to understand the concept of power users and the influence they can have on a service like this. Anyway - You might even consider subsidizing meals to help generate content in the beginning depending on your available resources. Goodluck!