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Thoughts on Cbusr

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Started 1 year ago by Brant
Latest reply from Walker

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Brant
Gahanna
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I usually sign up for these things and then ask myself "why?" afterwards. The site looks professional and there seems to be some good people involved so far. I suppose that's as good a reason as any for now.

The purpose of Cbusr is to promote and gather inspiring people who live and work in the Columbus, Ohio area. Every month, Cbusr.com will profile a new "Cbusr" nominated by the Columbus community. A quarterly event series, Cbusr Live, will serve to gather nominated Cbusrs and Columbus residents. Cbusr Live will feature inspirational talks by featured nominees as well as discussion panels, opportunities for networking, and more. The first Cbusr Live event will take place in November 2010. Cbusr.com will also soon be the premiere Twitter directory for Central Ohio residents.

http://www.cbusr.com

Posted 1 year ago #
thenakedredhead
Olde Towne East, the land of gratuitous E's
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Looks pretty cool so far, though I'm not sure what it'll "do" for me yet. I will say, though, that the creative team is definitely on it...I was followed on Twitter within like 5 minutes of creating a profile.

Posted 1 year ago #
jarsloth
west side
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I signed up and noticed they've starting adding some social content/functionality w/in the last week. Seems like a good thing that's still in the beginning stages.

Posted 1 year ago #
lisathewaitress
SoHud
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it does look good. Not quite sure I get it, but anything that has the aroma of "networking" throws me into a social-anxiety-related panic. Fortunately that's just one person's opinion!

If I could have one critique, though, it would be this: choose fewer great photos rather than just a ton of photos. The rotating images of Robbie Banks right now are almost all fantastic; but there are too many. I should have a clue about who she is in the pix - just a pretty girl with a great smile? After clicking the link (which was a 5 second redirect, don't know if that's on your end or mine; I use Chrome), I am reminded that Robbie is the YP Manager for the Columbus Chamber, so perhaps one of the pictures could show her greeting YPs, speaking to an audience, etc.

Okay, one more thing...I would suggest, as you are interviewing, that you have 5 standard questions you ask everyone after the traditional Q&A, so that your readers always have something specific to look for. Where do you take out of towners? Jeni's, Johnson's, or Graeters? Best Kept Secret in the city, Favorite month for Central Ohio, etc. In a similar vein, one question Anthony Bourdain and other chefs and food writers ask other chefs/food writers/foodies is: "What is your Last Meal?" it's become a universal question, and everyone looks forward to the answer.

ETA: Cbusr people, I hope you take my comments as constructive criticism and not just criticism! The site does look great and shows promise, just expressing my inner editor!

Posted 1 year ago #
jmak
Gahanna
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OK, probably a stupid question - but I've had a couple of people who wanted to "meet" me on here (which seems like a friend request on facebook), and can't find the easy way to say, "Cool." I've responded by wanting to meet them too, but now it just says they want to meet me and I want to meet them. Am I missing some super-simple way to get connected?

Posted 1 year ago #
lisathewaitress
SoHud
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jmak wrote >>
OK, probably a stupid question - but I've had a couple of people who wanted to "meet" me on here (which seems like a friend request on facebook), and can't find the easy way to say, "Cool." I've responded by wanting to meet them too, but now it just says they want to meet me and I want to meet them. Am I missing some super-simple way to get connected?

yeah, see? that's what i don't get. do you just go on there so you an say "i want to meet you" or "you're cool"?

because believe me. you don't want to meet me. i suck in person.

Posted 1 year ago #
MissNatalieLynn
Columbus
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Thank you for your thoughts everyone. We truly appreciate the feedback! The Cbusr team (myself, included) is working hard on bringing some more features to the community portion of the site. Soon, you will be able to connect with the people you "want to meet" in a very easy way. You will also be able to create your own meet-ups and tweetups so you can meet fellow users without having to use a third-party tool. Mr. @madikarizma will be chiming in here with some more in-depth detail about the development portion very soon.

Lisa - I really like the idea of keeping the questions consistent, but will have to try and get the team on the same page with that. Perhaps just a few questions like you suggested. We try to conduct every interview with targeted questions pertaining to the featured person's job and personal goals.

Thanks again! We hope everyone is having fun with it. That's all we want: to have fun and promote Columbus and its great people.

Posted 1 year ago #
chrisspinato
German Village
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Just joined Cbusr today on the advice of Ms. Erika Dellatore (@fashionface13), one of my favorite people, and a former colleague of mine when we worked together on LifeEpicurean.com

It looks like a great way to network and I'm looking forward to meeting everyone tonight at the meet up if I can make it out, and seeing everyone back at my bar for Cbusr discounts afterwards if I can't.

Posted 1 year ago #
JonMyers
HCMC ✈
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I think it's exceptionally well executed. It's usable, functional and aesthetically pleasing. A lot of people are talking about it and it looks like they're traffic.

All these magazine startups should be looking hard at Cbusr.

Posted 1 year ago #
JoeMitchell

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reminds me of another website

CUr

Posted 1 year ago #
michaelcoyote
!seabus
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I don't know. I think Lisa and jmak had some great feedback a month ago that I've not seen addressed. This is where something like 4square or Gowalla integration might actually be useful.

Posted 1 year ago #
JonMyers
HCMC ✈
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Foursquare integration would be cool.

Posted 1 year ago #
MissNatalieLynn
Columbus
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michaelcoyote wrote >>
I don't know. I think Lisa and jmak had some great feedback a month ago that I've not seen addressed. This is where something like 4square or Gowalla integration might actually be useful.

Hi! We are working hard on new features to make it easier to connect on the website. We have some cool things in store regarding "places" as well. Not sure about Foursquare or Gowalla integration just yet, but are taking suggestions into consideration. There will definitely be a mobile app as well.

We really value the feedback. Thank you!

Posted 1 year ago #
MissNatalieLynn
Columbus
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JonMyers wrote >>
I think it's exceptionally well executed. It's usable, functional and aesthetically pleasing. A lot of people are talking about it and it looks like they're traffic.
All these magazine startups should be looking hard at Cbusr.

Thank you, Jon. Everything you touched on is exactly what we're going for. Excited to show you the new features soon.. :)

Posted 1 year ago #
cc

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Just dropped back in there and it really has grown. It seems to have caught on in a big way. Sigh, there are so many social outlets and so little time...

Posted 9 months ago #
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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Looks good. How about including other neighborhoods on the tags?

Posted 9 months ago #
cc

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I was thinking something like this might be interesting for the Metropreneur to do a piece on. It seems that networking is becoming big business and this is an example of a local startup that has blossomed in a very short time.

Regardless, between twitter, cbusr, facebook, google +, yelp and CU there is also a level of networking overload. I do like the meet in real life things though and I like how many of the networking sites are moving toward using real names now. I guess social media is evolving into a mix of message board and facebook. The opportunity to know, or atleast know of, a ton of local people is pretty amazing. Each site has its own niche and I think they all help link the community. I wish there was a way to keep them all updated more easily.

Posted 9 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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Some interesting thoughts, CC. I've never considered CU to fall into the category of "social networking" though it does serve some of the same purposes when it comes to being a communications platform. Two years ago we made the conscious decision to focus more on providing original content (interviews, news, photos, stories, etc) to diversify what we're doing and in retrospect I think that's helped to differentiate the role that CU plays when compared to twitter, facebook, etc.

Overall, I think all of these tools are complimentary of each other and the abundance of options speaks well to the variety of opportunities in Columbus to network, connect, community and engage with other people. You're likely to get overloaded if you use *ALL* of them, but you can pick and choose from a few and benefit just the same.

Posted 9 months ago #