Geolocation, we’re told, is the future of social communication. But for anyone in Ireland who has tried using Foursquare, the location app that shares where you are with friends, it has likely been an enormous disappointment. Once you get past the novelty factor, the persistent questioning of non-smartphone friends (“what’s the point of it?”) begins to make a lot of sense. After all, there really isn’t even that much of a user base. Getting right to the point, Foursquare has no purpose in this country. There are no discounts for mayorships, and no local development officers to build the community. And your friends probably aren’t getting that much value out of knowing you moved from work to home. It’s a colossal waste of time.

But there is a geolocation service that offers real value to the end user, has a dedicated user base, and is tons of fun to use. And it’s the mobile version of the popular Yelp social reviews site.

This service provides value to the user by showing them top-rated cafes, bars etc nearby, nails the social element with weekly newsletters, check-ins and and tips/comments, and, best of all, is making a genuine effort with real live people to build a community. Which knocks the competition out of the park.

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Posted by Dave Molloy in •Business •Tech
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UPDATE: Content is all back up and categories are fixed. Images are uploaded but not displaying for old posts, comment previewing needs to be implemented, and a search template is missing, as is the RSS template. So we’re 90% functional, just missing a few bells and whistles.

If you’re looking for something, I’m really sorry if it’s not here.

We migrated hosting providers today, and also made the move from ExpressionEngine 1.6.9 to to 2.1, which has caused a few problems. The blog content needs to be uploaded, categories and comments are broken for the moment, and there may be a few kinks all around. All this will get fixed in a day’s time, so… please forgive our appearance while we renovate.

Posted by Dave Molloy in •Business •Tech
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I went to an interview recently for an online journalism position. This was actually the third interview, and I was meeting the top brass, so to speak. Then, it happened. I was asked about my blog.

More specifically, I was asked what I was writing lately, since I finished up my full-time commitments elsewhere. I talked a little about the freelance work and my clients, and thought I had handled the question well. My tech-savvy interviewer, however, looked at me and said:

Well, with the explosion of the internet, the definition of what constitutes publishing has changed. There’s nothing stopping you from writing every day. Do you have a blog or anything like that?

Well, colour me surprised. I honestly thought this would never come up in an actual real-world physical interview. I explained that yes, I did, though it had recently come through a period of not being updated. I had, in fact, just finished redesigning the blog from scratch, and would be looking to write a lot more from here on out. That didn’t impress.

I missed out on the position in the end, and I doubt a blog or lack thereof was the deciding factor. I’m just surprised that the interviewer in question brought it up. And I missed an opportunity there to talk about the highly interesting, regularly updated home of my daily writing. Food for thought, folks.

(I was also asked this question about ten times yesterday at a “creatives” discussion forum, but that’s less surprising).

Posted by Dave Molloy in •Business •Journalism •Tech
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Is it just me, or do newspapers consistently fail to tell us why they’re important? All the advertising I see these days (that isn’t just a quick plug about a free DVD in tomorrow’s paper) seems to emphasise the choice and diversity available to the reader. Surely it’s time for struggling papers to emphasise the core value they offer instead?

The Sunday Times is “for all you are” and has some (admittedly great) ads like this one featuring a paperboy emphasising the diversity of their content. But with this form of publishing in direct competition with the infinitely diverse web browser, surely there’s more sense in talking about their extensive resources and (supposed) impartiality?

I recently came across this wonderful old advert for the Guardian which tells me it’s an independent newspaper with the resources to get to the truth that might not be easy to find. And it’s so much more effective than anything I’ve seen recently.

Does anyone know of any recent campaigns that remind the public of these kind of values?

Posted by Dave Molloy in •Business •Journalism
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