Local Search | Jennifer Lind

A recent article from The Kelsey Group (okay, it was in May & I’m a little behind) discussed reasons why the Yellow Pages should develop “a platform for niche social networks since directories covers such a broad array of topics and content that can be related to highly conversational topics such as travel, music, legal, weddings, new mothers, retirement, interior design, home improvement, etc.”

The article goes on to explain that a Yellow Page owned social networking site has the power of a wide range of topics in any of their 5,000 headings, and could utilize its advertisers content as a source of adding revenue potential throughout each niche site.

The Kelsey Group says “the real benefit to Yellow Page owners would come in the form of increased traffic, narrow targeting opportunities for advertisers, additional revenue opportunities and leadership in the fast emerging social marketing space.”

So what would a yellow page niche social network site look like?

To really work, this needs to be a very innovative local networking site. It needs to get the local businesses involved in the content, and offer lots of applications for the users. It needs to be a mixture of twitter, squidoo, Ning, and facebook with a local business flair. Is that too much to ask for?

A local social networking site needs to have a minimum of the following features:

• mobile applications to upload posts and reviews
• user generated video & images
• pages that can be created by users
• the ability to allow users to create profile pages; the ability to save friends and certain posts as favorites
• many headings such as reviews, events, special offer commentary, where to get the best whatever, etc.
• allows the local businesses to add posts or have their own pages
• links in as an application with other social networking sites such as facebook, blogging sites, etc.
• rotating featured companies who have earned the right to get special attention through an innovative product or feature or community service, etc.

What other applications would you like to see on a local Yellow Page social networking site?