Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

Seit kurzem erst lassen sich über den standortbasierten Check-in-Dienst Foursquare via webbasiertem Feature „Explore“ personalisierte Empfehlungen für Bars, Museen oder sonstige Lokalitäten abrufen. Jetzt können User bei der Wahl eines Restaurants zusätzlich auf die Speisekarten von fast 250.000 Restaurants in US-Großstädten zurückgreifen. Die Daten stammen laut Unternehmensblog vom Start-up SinglePlatform.

Die Speisekarten stehen bislang für das standortbezogene Desktop-Feature Explore sowie auf foursquare.com sowie m.foursquare.com zur Verfügung, die Integration in die Apps soll bald folgen. Neben den Gerichten sieht der User bei vielen Restaurants auch die einzelnen Preise.

Mit der Desktop-Applikation click.to können User nun direkt aus Dokumenten, Kurznachrichten von Twitter, Facebook & Co., E-Mails und anderen Desktop-Anwendungen heraus eine lokale Suchanfrage an suchen.de absetzen. Möglich macht dies die Kooperation zwischen der Axonic Informationssysteme GmbH, die click.to entwickelt hat, und dem Betreiber der lokalen Suchmaschine suchen.de, der Searchteq GmbH. Read the rest of this entry »

As Google receives a good deal of critique for its new personalized internet search, Foursquare has been receiving much positive feedback from its users for its similar direction. The geolocation service has released its “Explore” service, which was previously available on the mobile application, online. Users can immediately begin to discover personally recommended places all over the world under foursquare.com/explore.
Based on the more than 1.5 billion check-ins from the community members as well as numerous tips, users can now receive personalized recommendations for restaurants, bars, museums, or other locations in the vicinity or place of choice, according to the Foursquare blog. The location-based check-in service has implemented artificial intelligence in its search engine: the more a user checks in, the better Foursquare is at finding new locations, according to the post.

“Explore” is not only personalized, but specific: the majority of search engines generate very general results: users searching for “pizza” will get the same list of pizza restaurants, regardless of preference of crust, whether the restaurant could be considered “fast” food, or if the user would rather sit down. The “Explore” tool instead allows users to conduct a full-text search, which helps make the search more specific, so that users only get the results that might be interesting to them, say a pizza restaurant that serves extra crispy crust. But that’s not all: the search can further be reduced in which the user sorts between the categories “Where I haven’t been yet”, “Where I’ve already been”, “Where my friends have been”, or “places offering Foursquare deals” – which are offerings for group check-ins. The geotagging service sees its new web-based feature as a step in the direction of a big idea: “[Foursquare] is always connecting you to the most interesting things nearby, wherever you happen to be in the world.”

Explore is not just an exciting new development, but also means that Foursquare will be joining the local search market – and is already recognizing the need for personalized information.

The Telegate AG has given its online directory 11880.com a facelift: the portal will open with a location-based local search for the correlating city. The new feature is described as being more local, personal, and structured by Kirstin Bergmann in the company’s official blog. Read the rest of this entry »

Meinestadt.de has added a new rating feature to its mobile local-search application for the iPhone and Android. Users can immediately begin to see user ratings for stores, services, and restaurants, and add in their own two cents, all on-the-go. Read the rest of this entry »

Now you don’t have to just maintain virtual contact to all of your Facebook friends – with the new app from discounter airline Germanwings, “FriendFlights”, users can book flights directly to their friends throughout Europe. The app lists Facebook friends and calculates flights from your current position to their home. Read the rest of this entry »

In the growing overkill of daily deal e-mails, users are beginning to see the daily alerts as spam in their mailboxes. Daily deal aggregator Yipit is trying to change this with its new app for iPhone users. Users can now find daily deals from over 800 sources, including Groupon, LivingSocial, GiltCity, and many more. Read the rest of this entry »

Future Tap is introducing user experience reports to its mobile, location-based iPhone application “Where To?” with the new 4.0 update. User can rate their experience on the spot at newly visited locations.
Ortwin Gentz, Future Tap’s CEO, described the new feature in a short and concise: “Where is the next Pizzeria, the next dentist or the next hair salon? The local search app Where To? for iPhone finds it at the drop of a hat. It is familiar with 700+ local categories and thousands of brands and chains. The new 4.0 version now displays ratings and reviews and allows to review places right within the app. So users know right away whether a visit is worthwhile.” Read the rest of this entry »

There’s certainly little doubt that Google is the leading power for local search. But this doesn’t mean that there isn’t any competition. In fact, Google chairman Eric Schmidt seems to believe that Google is not immortal, as he writes in a letter to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights. The giant’s biggest threat? Siri. Read the rest of this entry »

The search engine giant’s social network Google+ has launched a new service, der Einführung der Google+ Pages for Businesses, Parties, and Organizations, giving these the opportunity to present themselves to the community, inform them of new happenings, and directly connect with users. These new pages especially offer local businesses the chance to develop actively in the social media realm and to be discovered. Read the rest of this entry »