The beauty of social networks is that they engage users and facilitate enjoyable forums to discuss a variety of topics.
One of the significant trends of social networks is that they are beginning to develop a distinct local flavour. Facebook
alone has over 1 million members from Toronto.
With this level of engagement it's tough for traditional local print media to ignore, particularly the Yellow Pages, who have among the most complete local online business listings around. So when will Yellow Pages become social? According to Darby Seiben, Senior Manager - Traffic, Distribution and eProduct Management with YellowPages.ca, they already have.
YellowPages.ca have launched their integration of Facebook for customers who want to save and share their favorite businesses by using their link function on Facebook.com. They've also added social bookmarks sites such as del.icio.us, furl, yahoo myweb and Google Bookmarks.
Here's how it works:
Step #1 - Visit YellowPages.ca and do a search query.
Step #2 - Locate the business of your choice that you want to add and select the "Save and Share"
Step #3 - This launches a window where you select how you want to "Save and Share".
Step #4 - In this example, the listing is added to your facebook profile.
What I like about this service is that it's simple and very functional. For example, if you are planning a night out - you can add the link to facebook - share it with your friends to view the map and or driving directions for your business.
Like the Kelsey Group said, if Yellow Pages publishers had the vision and desire to be first movers, they could be the drivers of creating "Social Local Media," or "SoLo" (they coined it first!). Internet Yellow Pages have the ability to be the drivers of localized social media verticals on life events where open discussion and commerce coexist. I'll be keeping an eye on this!