Have you ever gone looking online for local activities and events only to find old and outdated information, or worse, no information at all? When you’re looking for something to do this weekend, the top Google results on events from 2004 just don’t cut it.
When you search online you want to find current information. You also go online to find information about events in your area that the local press (read: small town newspapers) don’t or won’t cover.
It is possible to find current event and entertainment information online, if you know where to look. These event web sites will lead to you to the right place. At the right time. In the right venue.
Top Web 2.0 Local Entertainment and Events Web Sites
Top Web 2.0 Local Entertainment and Events Web Site: Eventful
Web Site address: http://eventful.com
Tagline: “Life is Short….Make it Eventful”
Reality: Full of top-notch entertainment and activity information.
The true test of a local entertainment and events web site is its coverage of small towns and suburban areas. Any web site can compile information about cities. What about the rest of the people. Eventful passed the “local test” and then some. The amount of listings, including many that were previously unknown, was a refreshing surprise.
Eventful covers events, venues, community calendars, and performers. One of the most interesting aspects of Eventful is the “Demand” section, where Eventful web site users list who they’d like to see perform locally.
Eventful also has a strong community element, where users can easily find other local Eventful users, and join Eventful Groups.
Personalize Eventful with the calendar feature.
Top Web 2.0 Local Entertainment and Events Web Sites: PubWalk
Web Site address: www.pubwalk.com
Tagline: “Planning fun has never been easier.”
Reality: PubWalk is a little more fun than the phone book, and a lot more useful for bar hopping (hopping, walking, either one, as long as it’s by foot of course).
PubWalk sounds promising. The only thing PubWalk really does is help you narrow down the type of club you seek and help you create a glorified mapped route. Actually, this could prove more useful to bar hoppers at the end of the night when their pub walking hours come to a close, and they need to find their way home.
PubWalk uses Google Maps and CitySearch data. PubWalk is also useful for event planning. The resulting Pub Walk map can be saved, printed, shared, or embedded into a blog or web page.
Top Web 2.0 Local Entertainment and Events Web Sites: Vibely
Web Site address: www.vibely.com
Tagline: “See what’s happening”
Reality: Their site is better than their tagline, in a bit of reverse marketing genius (hey guys, you need a new tagline).
Vibely and Pubwalk users could get together and have a spanking good time. Vibely is all about socializing. Socialize on Vibely about where to socialize in your neighborhood.
Top Web 2.0 Local Entertainment and Events Web Site: Zvents
Web Site address: www.zvents.com
Tagline: “Find local events fast.”
Reality: Find big events fast.
Zvents does find local events fast. However, the events it finds are the big name obvious ones at the big and well-known and already well-publicized venues. Zvents can be useful for finding dates, locations and some detaisl about events you already know about. You are nto likely to find events on Zvents that you have not heard of on the radio or read about in a recent newspaper article or advertisement.
Top Web 2.0 Local Entertainment and Events Web Site: Yelp
Web Site address: www.yelp.com
Tagline: “Real People. Real Reviews.”
Reality: A Real Lot of Real Information.
Yikes! Yelp has a lot of information. Yelp is a one-stop web site for all of a city-dwellers entertainment, dining, shopping and service needs. In addition to providing a vast amount of real reviews by real people, this word-of-mouth web site also has a community aspect. Invite friend, send email and engage in the forum.
In true Web 2.0 style, Yelp relies on Google Maps for business information retrieval. You will go to Yelp for information. You will stay because it’s also entertaining.
