Our vision is to establish Townsource as the single-source authority for local information. We envision an online hub of historical, interesting and useful information about local organizations, conversations about local policy issues and events, and serving as a local adhoc platform connecting community members as local needs arise. TownSource’s basic operations will function as an easy-to-use wiki with the ability for users to create their own content, share knowledge, voice interests, edit, update and perfect local information. In theory, the Web puts the world users' fingertips; in reality, crawling the Web lends to sporadic disconnected results lacking any real cohesiveness or usability.
One-stop-shop
The main directory, Townsource.org, will function as an umbrella site for community members to find their individual local town sites. TownSource’s local sites offers a “single click” alternative to using multiple Web sites for information gathering; e.g. Wikipedia/Quora for accumulated knowledge, Yelp for business reviews, Citysearch for information and events, Craigslist for classified ads, Groupon for daily deals and local or national media sites for news. By bringing the functionality of Wikipedia, Craigslist, Yelp, Groupon, etc we establish the authoritative repository of real-world data of people, businesses, and the interactions among them in a structured way that can be used to interact with all of the other similar data on the Web. The result is a true search of relevant information from local, national or global sources, as opposed to a popularity algorithm (Google) that just spits out something based on what users around the world have clicked on.
Not another soulless (and easily replicated) algorithmic site
TownSource engages you as a contributor and viewer by offering a collaborative space to generate, share and continually improve local knowledge. The TownSource model is based in psychology, human nature and solid market analysis. It is collaborative and built around the places residents care about. At the consumer level it has the appearance of being small and personable rather then detached and generic. Almost any town wiki page can be edited by anyone who knows how to improve it. The directory content is tailored to fit the interests of each town-specific site. With our "connect to listing” feature consumers choose to receive deals from who they want or can opt browse all deals by going to the deal section. This option allows local “mom and pop” shops, businesses and other service providers the ability to customize deal packages just for the consumer and allows for the consumer to feel they are acquiring what they want rather than being “fed" what someone wants to sell them. The level of control felt by business and individual consumers alike lends to the feeling of satisfaction.
Usability made simple
A TownSource search tells a story, and stories hold more relevance to consumers than mere words, exploiting the semantic storage and use of consumers memory processes, delivering results that penetrate consumer’s minds. The act of “storytelling” eliminates the need for the frequent repetition that traditional advertising depends upon, pandering to orthographic levels of memory processing for cohesion and reliability. Such methods are needed when you are unable to determine which consumers will view the advertisement; however, with TownSource consumer bases are controlled by locality and information is delivered within context, making advertisements innately more effective. Businesses will greatly value the ability to harness such an effective use of consumer marketing.
Attention to simplicity and humanized design are at the core of the user experience, which is fully self-contained and self-propagating. Fueled by the user submitted content, each Town wiki offers an unprecedented compendium of useful information, delivered within a full and relevant context, about a community's history, culture, government, schools, activities and virtually all aspects of the physical community. Consumer loyalty and emotional investment are nurtured by the their contribution to the creation of a collaborative community-maintained resource. It is the amplified scale of user interaction and content variety that sets TownSource apart from other hyper local sites. The extent to which each TownSource site allows community input is above and beyond any other site currently in operation.
Business owners will have access to a simple and easy-to-navigate set of tools designed to help them manage their business listing and advertising with minimal effort and virtually no technical knowledge. The locally focused nature of TownSource and the strategic way information is dispersed adds an advantage to basic advertising. Not only do business owners find themselves at the consumers' door, advertising options have the ability to function in union with relevant local consumer searches to tell a “story” without interruption by generalized search results and bulk non-local ads, effectively serving advertisers by consequence.