Dipping into the Blogpond

When I started this blog, I didn’t really have a particular subject theme in mind, but I realise that I’m tending towards a “local” theme. I suppose in order for a blog to be successful, one has to write about what interests them, and for me I guess it’s “local” – local sites, local search, Australian websites, Australian blogs etc.

So, obviously I’m all behind local type sites, but I just wonder how local is too local? Two recent community sites to crop up are Where I Live, which focuses on South-East Queensland and Nook which is based in Melbourne. I think Nook has a much funkier and fresher feel to it than Where I Live but both sites are pretty busy. In terms of sustainability, I wonder the extent to which members will maintain enthusiasm in their blogging, or whether there will be a vast collection of “one post wonders” (and many of which may well be written by the local businesses themselves).

I think the review concept is of benefit, but again it’s messy. It would be great if you could find a restaurant (or other business) and then just click on a link to see the reviews people have left, but I do suppose that has been done elsewhere. We toyed with the idea of user reviews on dLook, but in the end decided it had the potential to cause more dramas than to be of benefit (i.e. competitors leaving bad reviews, no incentive to advertise if reviews were bad, being able to censor or remove reviews would defeat the whole purpose etc…).

It’s an interesting concept to watch – the idea of community websites as a niche and the viability of such a website with a more restricted number of potential members, but I suppose we’re not necessarily talking about global domination for every website – and the appeal to local advertisers would be apparent.

Still if it’s going to work anywhere in Australia Melbourne would have to be THE place of pace. In my opinion Melbournites, as a community, are more internet savvy and internet aware than any other place in Australia. Can anyone explain that to me? (Note: I live in Sydney and do NOT have Melbourne envy!)!