Just got an e-mail informing me that Judy’s Book, one of those local search/recommendations firms has launched its public beta test. Other players in the space include Idealab’s Insider Pages.
The guys behind Judy’s Book — Andy Sack and Chris DeVore — have a pretty good track record. Andy co-founded Abuzz, which was sold to NYTimes Digital, and he was also a Softbank entrepreneur-in-residence. Chris was a partner in Adjacency, a Web consulting and design shop acquired by Sapient.
My gripe as a consumer? Judy’s Book started gathering members and recommendations in Seattle — too far North. And Insider Pages started up in Los Angeles — too far South. Thankfully, there’s Berkeley Parents Network — though it could be organized a whole lot better. Looking forward to seeing how these community/social networking/local search plays do as they gather more members.
Hi Pamela – thanks for the Judy’s Book shout-out!
We know we still have a ton to learn about how to make Judy’s Book more fun, more intuitive, and just plain more compelling for the average user. But we’re passionate about the idea of pooling local knowledge with people you know (or might want to know), and we’re convinced that helping people do this online can be both a great business and a great consumer service.
Our biggest challenge right now is to get the product right for our members – striking the right balance of utility and fun, privacy and openness, etc. We’re listening hard to the members we do have, so if you have suggestions or advice, we’d love to hear more from you!
Hi Pamela,
You might consider checking out NiftyGuy (www.niftyguy.com) which is San Francisco/Bay Area based. Its brand, spanking new and still sort of trying to stay under the radar. It’s meant to gather reviews on people in the community (rather than restaurants, bars etc which tend to fill up review sites but are not as useful or hard to find) — i.e. landords, craigslist commerce, doctors, dentists, lawyers, etc. Check it out when you get a chance.