Apply HN: Placewire | Hacker News Reader

Apply HN: Placewire

2 pointsslowernet10 comments

Placewire (https://placewire.co) is a new platform for sharing interesting neighborhood information and gossip via photo sharing.

Everyone likes good dope about their neighborhood, but when you spot something of interest, it doesn’t fit on the social apps you have today — your sorority brothers on Facebook and the lifestyle pornographers from work on Instagram probably don’t care about the new dog run in your park, or the manhole fire you spotted on your way to the train because you’ve carefully chosen to live far away from such people. On Placewire you follow and post photos into the neighborhoods where you live and work.

We're launching in NYC in the next 7 days. You won't want to miss your chance to grab a low user id which you can subtly lord over people when Placewire becomes literally the first hyperlocal business in history to achieve colossal success.

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Why will you be successful when so many neighborhood websites have failed in the past?

How do you overcome people's general apathy towards their neighbors (which is especially true in cities!).

For the sake of discussion, let's take as a given that people care about things happening in their neighborhood. Why would someone use your app instead of instagram with a hashtag for the neighborhood?

Please see my reply to bobbylox for the operational differentiators I see between Placewire and other hyperlocal models.

I'd argue that despite feeling apathetic about the individuals in your community, one could be motivated use Placewire. Because person-to-person connections/follower counts are not a core part of the product (today), there's a lesser ambient sense of social haves and have nots. I also think an ambivalent person could use Placewire for both practical reasons (I learned that there's a new Cambodian restaurant opening on Smith Street), or because you enjoy being a person who has information. Think about Matt Drudge, a news hound and apparently somewhat of a hermit.

Instagram with a hashtag is fine if you 1. aren't bothered by sending the majority of your followers content that is irrelevant to them, and 2. believe that non-followers will discover your content by surfing your chosen hashtag. Algorithmic feed could change some of this - we'll see!

It seems as though you know that hyperlocal businesses have not done well in the past. What is the unique thing you bring to the table that might save you from their fate?

1) Better unit economics via user-generated content creation. I'm not paying per-market salaries like Patch (though I'm not reaping the benefits of labor of a dedicated professional, either).

2) A native ad product (sponsored photo/link) which local businesses understand, because they're already creating the content for existing social media.

3) A content model based on a form of media which people enjoy both consuming and creating, rather than zoning board recaps and the crime blotter. I'm not denigrating either of those - I enjoy both - but like a lot journalism they are costly to produce relative to their travel.

How will you compete with NextDoor and Facebook? What's the key improvement?

Nextdoor is a private message board, which is an ideal environment for people who enjoy message boards and the type of conversations they engender, while the unit of content on Placewire is a photo. I believe this enables a different type of conversation and will engage a different set of users.

I think Facebook groups are typically used at micro-local (eg. a city block) scale and it's perfect for sharing information in that context. I'm not sure how that maps to a neighborhood. Do you have any firsthand experience?

I also plan to circulate content in a less geographically siloed way than these quite private platforms.

In what sense is Nextdoor a private message board? I don't see Nextdoor as being more private than other social media networks. (Genuinely asking, not trying to shoot you down!)

In that it requires address validation. So "private" per se is wrong, sorry, but nothing within a community is intended to travel. Placewire is happily promiscuous. Thanks for the question.

btw, what were these hyperlocal businesses that failed in the past? [just not familiar with them that's all]

Litany of failed ventures: http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/6-hyperlocal-failures-...

Litany of crippling systemic factors: http://streetfightmag.com/2013/08/23/why-your-hyperlocal-con...

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