Yahoo Local meets citizen media
"Were You There When News happened? Upload your photos and video here to have them considered for use in articles and features on Yahoo! News."
Currently featured at “You Witness News”: Jonathan August Ford, grandson of Gerald R. Ford, peers out into the crowd of citizens gathered to pay their respects to the former president.
Photo by Brad Gillette
At Yahoo Local everyone is now entitled to be their own “Yellow Pages” rep:
Are you in the know? Give us your local insights!
Yahoo Local is “empowering” users to help Yahoo improve its local listings and underscoring the Yahoo import of the citizen “feet on the street” assignment; “Now you can truly be our eyes and ears in your community!”:
It’s time to announce a new feature on Yahoo! Local which empowers you to add your favorite new local business, alert others when an old favorite has closed, and add or change business info quickly. In 24 hours it’ll be up on Local for everyone to see.
If you run across a business which has closed, needs a correction, or which is missing some important info like its web site, please click the “Edit This Business” link beneath the rating to tell us about it. We’ll add an alert to the listing ASAP and show your proposed changes to other Locals in a pop-up window. If you happen to know about a business that has been edited by someone in your community, you’ll be able to confirm that the changes are valid by clicking on ‘Yes’ in the pop-up window.
Local directory database listings are often outdated or inaccurate, at all properties.
Yahoo’s citizen “empowerment” spin on recruiting locals to update the Yahoo Local listings is interesting, but is not presented with a “You Witness News” Press Pass style punch. Moreover, personal pride from correcting a favorite pizzeria’s phone number online does not match the visceral appeal of seeing one’s own photography featured on the Web.