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Before You Get Started…

A few caveats:

• Jailbreaking, the process of opening up your phone to allow for the installation of unapproved 3rd-party applications, voids the warranty on your phone. If you’re a stickler for these types of things, this may not be the hack for you. (If you really want a phone that functions as a Wi-Fi hotspot, maybe you should wait for the Evo instead.)
• That said, jailbreaking is reversible in the sense that you can always return your phone to factory settings then reapply your backup and no one will be the wiser. Your iPhone is automatically backed up every time you sync with iTunes, but you may want to double-check that your contacts, photos, calendar items and any other critical information is safely stored somewhere else…just in case.
• The MyWi app is buggy. Really, really buggy. Upon first launch, it crashed repeatedly in our tests. The issue seems to be with the “Rock You” sign-in/registration process. But I got it working and you may be able to as well. In fact, it’s the crashing problem that makes the entire setup process take so long – not the jailbreak itself. That’s downright speedy.
• MyWi isn’t free, but comes with a trial period (thank goodness!). The app costs $9.99 when you’re ready to purchase.

How to Turn your iPhone into a Wi-Fi Hotspot

1. The first step is to jailbreak your phone. If you’ve never done this before, you can follow our guide here for the iPad – it’s the exact same procedure, from start to finish. For those who are familiar with jailbreaking and just need the software, go here: spiritjb.com.
2. Once your jailbroken phone is up-and-running, launch the Cydia application store.
3. In Cydia, search for “MyWi.” There are two apps listed, but the one that says “No Rock” next to it never installed for us. Grab the other one instead.
4. Tap on the search result for the app, tap the “install” button in the upper-right corner, then tap “confirm.”
5. When installation is complete, tap the “Reload SpringBoard” button. (If this part gets stuck, just reboot your iPhone).
6. Launch the MyWi app. Accept the agreement and tap “OK.” Now comes the tricky part. In our tests, the app would barely stay open for more than a couple of seconds at this point. In fact, we were about to write it off as a total loss. But after a bit of perseverance, we got it working. It appeared as if the problem was with registering for a RockYourPhone account via the app. (RockYourPhone is a paid application store for jailbroken phones where MyWi is sold.)
7. Instead of registering for an account via the app, we went to RockYourPhone.com and signed up there instead.
8. Before returning to the app, we copied our registration email address to the clipboard so we could quickly paste it in instead of typing it in.
9. Re-launch MyWi. Tap “sign in.” Paste in your email, type in your password. The app will check for your registration (and probably crash again).
10. The app will check for license updates and then allow you to use it on the “trial” license. If you can’t get past this step because the app continues to crash, we’re sorry. We can’t help you. Like we said, the app is buggy. You may be able to get it going, but we’ll make no promises. Hopefully, a future version will be more stable.
11. Assuming you do get the app to (finally!) launch, you’ll see the option to turn Wi-Fi Tethering on via a toggle switch at the top. You can also turn on USB and Bluetooth tethering using the toggle towards the bottom. With tethering on, your phone’s Internet connection, 3G or otherwise, is made available as a Wi-Fi hotspot to nearby computers. You can even use WEP security if you’d like.
12. When you’re finished, you can switch tethering off and close the app.

Note: Problems Sharing 3G?

If you run into problems with MyWi not being able to share your 3G data connection, a simple reset of your network settings may resolve the issue. Go into the Settings app -> General -> Reset -> Reset Network Settings. Reboot the phone and try MyWi again.

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The Blockbuster story is another example of how companies are re-architecting through open API’s to reconfigure their businesses. A point of sale can be in any number of places. It may be a store, the Web or through a platform like Tivo.

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Open API’s are lightweight, flexible and relatively affordable. And that’s just what Blockbuster needs. Blockbuster has been close to bankruptcy. The company plans to close 20% of its stores by 2011.

An API strategy gives Blockbuster the leverage to give the customer a unified experience across multiple channels. It also opens new ways to sell products as the API can present the right information at the right time on the platform of the customer’s choice. For instance, that may mean doing a check on the availability of a film at local stores. It may also mean accessing Blockbuster through a smartphone or other devices. Blockbuser is limiting the API to its partners but may open it up in the future. Partners include Tivo, Samsung and HTC.

The new API strategy comes after two years of work to consolidate Blockbuster’s multiple channels to represent its new philosophy: “One Customer, One Blockbuster.”

The time was right to make the transition. API’s were on the rise. But for a while it looked like it would be a massively expensive, heavyweight integration.

In 2008, open API’s began to appear in enterprise environments. But for the most part, customers received pitches like Blockbuster did from the big technology companies to “blow up the databases,” said Mike Debnar, Blockbuster Vice President of Retail Systems.

And the cost? Some bids came in at $1 million.

In 2009, a convergence came. CEO James Keyes became a strong partner in a customer focused strategy. The company started aggregating its legacy data to integrate into an API that it built with Sonoa Systems.

Sonoa worked with Blockbuster to develop API that is built on RESTful web services. It can be easily managed by a small team. The API is integrated with back office systems.

Blockbuster is also updating its iPhone app to reflect the new cross-channel efforts.

Sam Ramji of Sonoa puts it this way. The API gives Blockbuster greater possibilities to reach across a number of varied channels.

It mat seem far away but retailers are preparing for the holiday season. And where may customers be doing shopping?

Perhaps in the store or from their desktop. But it’s also likely they will be on the couch using their iPad to buy their holiday gifts.

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WebProNews spoke with Eric Peacock, General Manager, Insider Pages about the new Doctor Finder tool.

Peacock said the Web has made it increasingly easy to find recommendations for things like restaurants and hair salons, but it has largely failed at making it easy to choose a doctor.

"To make an informed choice you really need to have at least three types of information in addition to basic data on the doctor’s specialty and address. The three things are: insurance accepted by that doctor, patient reviews, and objective, third-party validation of the doctor’s credentials and record (e.g. Doctor is free of malpractice or sanctions against their record)," said Peacock.   

"The fact is, people probably spend more time picking out a flat screen TV than they do a doctor because it’s been so difficult to find the information you need about a doctor in one place. As a result, most people end up on their health insurance website and settle with picking a doctor based on how close the physician is to their office or home.  They don’t necessarily get patient reviews or know anything about the doctor."

Peacock said Insider Pages wanted to put medical information in one place and make it searchable using Doctor Finder.

. "So now, for example, if you want to find a board certified, female ob/gyn that accepts Blue Cross, has a clean record and is within two miles of your office – you can do that search in a few seconds using the Doctor Finder," said Peacock.

Peacock said the advantage to using Doctor Finder over a search engine like Google, is it’s a more specialized type of local search.

"Most of our health related traffic comes from people who have started their search on Google but ended up on Insider Pages because they want to be able to use a finer filter for narrowing down the list of potential doctors," said Peacock.

"Google doesn’t specialize in helping you find a doctor based on filters like health insurance, gender, patient rating, proximity to your home or office, track record and the like."

Through a partnership with HealthGrades, a healthcare ratings organization, Insider Pages offers users access to 1.2 million patient ratings and 15 data points on more than 800,000 doctors.

"All Google Analytics customers have access to a worldwide network of Google Certified Partners (formerly known as Google Analytics Authorized Consultants)," says Trevor Claiborne of the Google Analytics Team. "And now the ecosystem is growing further with developers who are creating a variety of applications on the Google Analytics platform."

Among the apps in the gallery are ones that let you work with analytics data in an Excel spreadsheet, and one that automatically implements Google Analytics across a WordPress site.

Developers can find more information here about how to publish apps in the gallery.

Google also announced it will be making a new set of AdWords reports available in Google Analytics over the coming weeks.

"These reports expand significantly on the AdWords reports you currently see in your account," says Claiborne. "For example, you can break out your AdWords traffic by actual search query, match type, distribution network, and many other AdWords attributes. We’ve added reports for day parting, placements, and destination URLs."

Developers can access AdWords info with the Google Analytics APIs, which Google says makes it much easier to combine AdWords and Analytics data for analysis and automation.

In addition to these announcements, AdWords Search Funnels are now available for all AdWords accounts.

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800,000 Doctors – 1.2 Million Reviews

Insider Pages currently has more than 800,000 doctors in its system. To get started, Insider Pages has partnered with HealthGrades.com, which syndicates about 1.2 million patient surveys to Insider Pages. While most of the company’s competitors offer extensive databases and reviews, this cooperation with HealthGrades.com also gives Insider Pages access to the HealthGrade’s database of doctors’ records. Thanks to this, users can also check if their doctor is board certified and has a clean record. For more details about a doctor’s records (including malpractice and sanction records), Insider Pages refers its users to HealthGrades. Insider Pages also allows its users to refine their searches based on other criteria like the doctor’s gender, experience and ability to speak certain languages.

As Insider Pages’ general manager Eric Peacock told us when we talked to him earlier today, rating doctors is different from rating a restaurant. While Insider Pages allows its users to write regular freeform reviews, the company also asks every reviewer 10 questions about their experience, ranging from how much time the doctor spent with the patient to how well they listened to the patient’s complaints.

Privacy, of course, is a major concern when it comes to doctors. As Peacock told us, the company gives users the freedom to share as much information as they want to, but by default, these reviews are never shared on the patient’s Facebook feed.

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As a startup that is looking to innovate in your industry, it usually does not make any sense for you to allow someone else to communicate your vision. PR firms do not always get it. Even with stellar communication skills, only you and your core team really understand the message and the vision.

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Danny Wong is the co-founder and lead evangelist of Blank Label, a provider of custom dress shirts. He has been featured in publications like ReadWriteWeb, FastCompany, ABCNews, FoxNews, BusinessWeek and more. He is also a 19-year-old evangelist and rockstar studying full-time at Bentley University.

If you are a first-timer at PR, start small so you do not burn any important bridges (but be aware that every bridge counts). Start pitching to small blogs and websites in your niche and occasionally take a shot at medium-sized blogs. Once you start feeling more comfortable with your email pitch, and are making decent traction with small blogs and websites, move onto pitching to medium-sized sites. Then, as you gain experience, and learn a bit more about tailoring your pitch to specific authors, you can move onto mass-media outlets that can really increase your exposure because of their tremendous reach.

Here are some pieces of advice that will get you featured more often.

Speak Their Language and be Concise

As in all communications practices, you want to make sure that your audience can understand what you are saying without thinking too much. Do not foolishly use inner-office jargon that no one else understands. Not to insult journalists, but pitch as if you were addressing a 14-year-old. Seriously. This manner of communication should be the same for everyone you talk to about your brand. You are not condescending them this way; you are allowing them to easily digest your message.

Make Some Friends

Sometimes it’s good to build a relationship with a reporter before pitching them. In our digital age, this is much easier to do too since we have Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for interacting with new people. In fact, you can also leverage your secondary network (your network’s network) to get in contact with writers. Knowing people that know people is a great way to get your foot in the door.

Always be Reading

Keep an eye out for relatable content or news, and pitch writers with a fresh angle since they are obviously interested in related subjects. Or, provide meaningful commentary (typically best with email) that can help kick-start your relationship with the writer through intellectual dialogue.

Indirectly Target Reporters

Sometimes it’s not ideal to pitch directly to reporters. It might be better to target media outlets that the influentials are reading. If you know that Om Malik reads some small-time tech blog, you might want to get featured on that blog to get Om Malik’s eyes on you without directly contacting him. When you finally do contact him, you will have higher visibility in his overflooded inbox because he has heard of you before.

Do Something Different

No one wants to talk about something that’s been done before. What’s your angle that makes you so special? Sure, you can do something similar to big businesses, but make sure there’s also something distinctly different about what you do. Always be innovating and let people know that!

Do a Giveaway

Blogs and medium-sized websites love this. You are offering value to them and their readers because you are giving something away for free that the publisher and the audience does not have to pay for. This also serves as free publicity for you, so everyone wins. The publisher gets a new piece of content, the audience gets a free prize, and you get some eyes on your product and website. NOTE: This typically does not work on bigger publications or mass-media outlets because they are looking for newsworthy content, or sponsored posts.

Be Part of a Movement

Being part of a movement validates what you’re doing as a business, and sometimes gives reporters more newsworthy content than just a solo feature of you because they can profile other businesses within the same space that are doing awesome things.

Have an Actionable Conclusion to Your Pitch

Do not just pitch your story and hope the recipient will email or call. Ask them their thoughts on the pitch, or prompt them to reply via email or call to further discuss the story.

Be Patient, but Persistent

This is very important. Sometimes it takes a while for a journalist to get back to you, and sometimes they forget to reply. I tend to follow up one to two weeks after emailing a journalist to see if they received my email and their thoughts on it. I’ve closed many more stories this way rather than trying to let my first email do all of the work. Even after you’ve had an interview or a briefing, it is important to follow up with your media contact until the story is live because it doesn’t count unless the public sees it! One recent media hit took a month from initial pitch before being published live, and I’ve been nurturing one media lead I have had since December of 2009!

Do you have any other wisdoms on how startups can power their media relations? Feel free to add your tips in the comments below.

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Stowe Boyd is often credited with the idea of pitching via Twitter. He proposed the “Twitpitch” in order to help him schedule meetings with startups at the Web 2.0 Expo in 2008.

Twitter has grown in use and acceptance since Boyd’s idea for the Twitpitch, and the microblogging service can be a valuable site for entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas. But with the increasing level of chatter there, you need to make sure your pitch stands out. So if you do decide to use Twitter to pitch your ideas, here are a few things to keep in mind:

1: Pitch Publicly. If you target your message using the @ reply function, your conversations will only be seen by mutual followers and could be missed by others who might be interested in your idea. And if you use the direct message function, your tweet just ends up as an email would, without all the care and presentation of a full-blown email pitch. Of course, a public tweet runs the risk of being lost in the shuffle. And one of the drawbacks to pitching via Twitter is that, unlike the elevator or email pitches, you can’t really craft your pitch to suit your audience. If you want to have a bit more precision in your pitch, consider including a hashtag to link it with other conversations on the topic. (This is particularly useful when you plan to be onsite for an event, such as the Web 2.0 Expo.)

2. Complete your Twitter profile. Make sure your profile contains compelling and pertinent information about you and your company. Be sure to include your URL.

3. Include a URL in your tweet. If your tweet is a pitch, drive traffic to a webpage or blog post with more information about you, your company and your service. Consider linking to a page with a more elaborate pitch, not just merely to your home page. Whether you’re using a URL shortener (such as bit.ly) or not, it’s good to identify the type of link – a link to a blog post or a video, for example – so people know what to expect when they click.

3. Don’t use Twitter solely to pitch. There needs to be a compelling reason to follow you on Twitter and to pay attention to your tweets. If you only tweet self-promotional links and blurbs, chances are you aren’t going to maintain followers.

4. Don’t spam. While Twitter can be a great way to spread the message about your business, don’t repeatedly blast your followers with the same PR information.

5. Follow up. Twitter provides a real-time way to both monitor and participate in conversations. Do make sure that you aren’t just using Twitter to broadcast messages, but that you are actively engaging your followers as well.

There are numerous announcements you can pitch via Twitter: news, events, product launches, and employment opportunities, for example. But remember, as with the elevator pitch, it’s important to sell yourself, not just your products.

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In July, the company will roll out three tiers of service – Ning Mini, Ning Plus and Ning Pro – and subscriptions will range from $3 to $50 per month. These new product packages include the following:

Ning Pro: Offers unlimited membership, full control over branding, multimedia options including music uploads and branded players, and advanced customization. Price: $49.95 per month or $ 499.95 per year.

Ning Plus: Offers unlimited membership, full control over branding, and features including events, groups, chat, pages and Ning Apps. Ning Plus will also offer advanced customization options including the ability to edit CSS, add Javascript and make use of a Language Editor. Price: $19.95 per month or $199.95 per year.

Ning Mini: Offers access to Ning’s core features including, blogs, photos, forums and video embeds, and the added ability to run custom advertising. Price: $2.95 per month or $19.95 per year.

In addition to ending their promotional links and advertising, Ning also announced they’d be replacing the Ning ID with a custom sign-in system, as well as support for Facebook Connect and Twitter authorization; adding new APIs to allow mobile and desktop application development; increasing sites’ design flexibility; and adding enhanced reporting and analytics information. For those who are currently using the system but plan to move elsewhere, Ning will also offer a content migration tool.

“Our Network Creators are some of the most passionate and creative users of social networking technologies on the web, and by focusing on our three new product offerings, Ning will be able to extend the power and control we bring to our customers,” said Ning CEO Jason Rosenthal.

The passion of Ning users was evident in the aftermath following the company’s decision in April to end the free subscriptions. Many educators who found Ning to be particularly useful for both classroom communication and for professional development were worried about the impact Ning’s decision would have on their networks, as well as on their limited budgets.

In response, Ning indicated today that K-12 educators would be able to continue to have access to free Nings, in the form of Ning Minis sponsored by an as-yet-unnamed educational company. While it’s unclear at this time what kind of control that company will have over teachers’ Nings and whether or not they will be able to market or message to their members, many teachers seemed cautiously optimistic about today’s announcement and were happy that the company had responded to their outcry.

The website Free Technology Tools for Teacher noted that “Ning Mini won’t replace the old free Ning accounts, but they should still be useable for classroom settings. Though with a cap of 150 members it probably won’t be useable for building a community Ning around a whole school or PTA.” And in a move that echoes what many users of Ning have been thinking, the website offered a link to a list of Ning alternatives.

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Aimed at bringing together the varied strands of a personal web at each point of a user’s online experience, Spindex is currently only available in a tech preview.

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“Spindex…aggregates your social streams (Facebook, Twitter, Bing, etc.), making it simple for you to find what’s new, see personalized trending topics, and generally make the most of the time you spend being social on the Web.”

Spindex seems learns from your online behavior, harvesting relevant information to a central page. It also links to Bing search information and allows you to use Evernote, another Labs innovation, within the application.

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Entrepreneur-turned-venture capitalist Mark Suster posted to his blog recently some tips on how entrepreneurs should communicate with VCs in between board meetings.

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Based on his experience as a startup CEO, Suster argues that it’s just as important to use the time in between board meetings efficiently as it is to be efficient during the meeting itself. He writes, “I found that too often it was an update meeting for investors rather than a meeting for my company to get value. I’ve written before about how to turn this equation around and run more effective board meetings. If you want to prevent board meetings simply becoming investor update meetings? If so, you need to do a better job of communicating between meetings so that they always feel well informed.”

Good communication, according to Suster, is key to helping your VCs understand your company, your needs, and your expectations.

Leverage the Investors’ Networks

VCs know a lot of people, but the key is to help them introduce you to the right people.

Suster recommends creating a Google spreadsheet listing your top customer prospects, business development prospects and other companies you’d like to meet. Include in the spreadsheet information on who you’d like to meet now, in three months, and so on. Have investors and board members put their names next to the people they know and encourage them to add other names to the list.

Suster suggests you “make sure to politely remind investors to run intro’s by you before sending them out. We want to help. We don’t want to be unfocused. But most VC’s are “intro machines.” Help them to be well behaved. Help them to follow your process. If you’re polite and persistent they will – and they’ll appreciate it.”

And of course, be sure to thank publicly at the board meeting those members who helped make key introductions.

Help VCs Talk to Others About Your Company

VCs need reminders in between board meetings about the key details of your company. Suster recommends giving investors a paragraph or so summarizing what you do. This isn’t a mission statement, but an elevator speech, of sorts. It’s also good to share information about your key competitors with your investors and how you feel your company stacks against them.

Keep Everyone Up-To-Date on Finances

Make sure all board members and investors know when you expect to run out of cash. According to Suster, “This is the single biggest thing they shouldn’t be surprised about.” Keep everyone apprised of and reminded about this date so that investors can plan according.

Biweekly Updates

Suster recommends sending board members a one-page, bullet point set of notes via email. Make it short and succinct in order to encourage people to read it. Consider including three categories: major achievements in the past two weeks, plans for the next two weeks, and things your company could use help with.

Send the Board Materials 72 Hours in Advance

This will help everyone shows up at the meeting informed and ready to contribute.

The underlying principle to many of these recommendations is the importance of maintaining communication between entrepreneurs and investors. Even if you are holding regular board meetings every four to six weeks, that is too long to go in between updates. Good communication in between meetings can help insure that the time spent during the meetings is productive.

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Adding to the services are new features that allow multiple people to co-edit and co-author Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. Central Desktop maintains that the added features eliminate the need to upgrade to Microsoft Sharepoint or Microsoft Office 2010. The new features will be available in June.

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We see Central Desktop as part of a new wave. Co-editing is the next step to real-time collaboration, fitting with activity streams, co-commenting and such services as the ability to create individual rich profiles.

Co-editing served as a hallmark feature of Google
Wave upon its introduction. Novell Pulse offers integration with Google Wave to offer the co-editing capabilities.

Cubetree may best express the value of enriched co-editing. Yesterday, SuccessFactors bought the startup for a deal valued at $50 million.

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The discussion draft of the legislation sets up requirements for Internet companies and online ad networks that include “conspicuous” notice of information capture, initial user opt-in on all such collection and user opt-out afterward.

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The focus of the legislation is on identifiers, such as full name, social security number, telephone number, bank account number, biometric data and so on. But it also includes information such as “persistent unique identifier” from ISP address to online nickname.

“A covered entity may not sell, share, or otherwise disclose covered information to an unaffiliated party without first obtaining the express affirmative consent of the individual to whom the covered information relates.”

The legislation also makes the “covered entity” responsibly for guaranteeing the safety and security of the information they gather.

Some types of information are exempt from these rules.

“No consent is required to collect and use operational or transactional data–the routine web logs or session cookies that are necessary for the functioning of the website–or to use aggregate data or data that has been rendered anonymous.”

To ensure the law would not be toothless, the legislation brings in a regulatory body.

“The Federal Trade Commission would adopt rules to implement and enforce the measure. States may also enforce the FTC’s rules through State attorneys general or State consumer protection agencies.”

Bottom photo by umjanedoan

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Snow, a graphic designer, freelance writer, entrepreneur and would-be musician based in New York City, saw his youthful aspirations of topping the rock and roll charts crumble as he and his bandmates went their separate ways after college. During that time he has been writing about technology, running a few startup sites, and designing websites and infographics. One such infographic was inspired by his dual experiences as a musician and an entrepreneur and shows that the path to success for both is marked by similar milestones.

For starters, rock bands assemble members of complementary abilities, create a rough-cut demo tape, network with similar bands and begin touring small venues. The same is true for startups, which gather a team of varying skills, produce their first prototype, and begin networking with other startups and investors. Rock bands “bootstrap” by selling merchandise at shows, and startups find themselves signed to an indie record label – also known as angel financing.

As the musicians travel thousands of miles playing gig after gig, the entrepreneurs code thousands of lines of code creating iteration after iteration. One day, as Snow’s infographic illustrates, startups could hit the big time with a major record label signing in the form of a venture capital firm investment. Finally, after the eventual superstars live up their popularity to it’s fullest, they retire and either become investors of their own, or crete their own record label to keep the money rolling in.

One comparison I would have included in the infographic is fact that startups and rock bands alike must stay abreast of their audience’s needs. Instead of churning out the same music over and over, bands evolve to keep their listeners interested and coming back for more. Just think of how different The Beatles were from their first to last album, and think of how different Facebook is from its early days.

“Starting a rock band is a very entrepreneurial experience,” says Snow. “I think being an entrepreneur is all about executing creative ideas — being the guy (or girl) who actually starts a band rather than sitting around with friends and talking about how cool it would be, or being the one who actually sits down and builds a prototype rather than just talking about it for years until someone else builds it.”

And just as there are no over-night successes in music, the same is also true for startups. They take enormous amounts of effort spread over a long period of time, so don’t get frustrated when your first singles aren’t instant hits.

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Topix has also seen rapid growth in mobile access over the past year, from about 1% of their total traffic to 10% now. Tolles told me that 70% of that mobile traffic is coming from the iPhone.

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When Topix began in 2004, just 10% of Topix’s channels were local. But soon after, Tolles told me, they noticed that about 45% of their traffic was coming from those local channels. Topix then embarked on a journey to “own local news” for towns. By 2007, Topix was focusing almost exclusively on local news. It aimed to become the “home of local voice on the Web.”

Small Town News

Topix is about discussion, rather than traditional journalism. Tolles explained that they use a community approach to get people to participate and add news for their town. The content on the site is largely driven by community discussion. Tolles said that small towns often don’t have enough news, so “discussion is what fills this out.”

According to Tolles, Topix can be a substitute for traditional press in some small towns – especially if there’s no local paper (or if there is one, it’s not daily but, for example, a weekly publication). Given its focus on discussions, Tolles said that Topix is the place to go “if you want to throw rocks at your mayor.”

As noted, Topix does well in small towns. The southeast of the U.S. is currently working very well, said Tolles, with some small towns attracting thousands of comments a day. However, by his own admission Topix does poorly in big metropolitan cities like New York City and San Francisco. Tolles attributes this to increased competition in those places, but also in smaller cities or towns locals often “have axe to grind” and so that fosters discussions.

I asked how Topix markets itself to towns. Tolles replied that the biggest way Topix is discovered is through Google – for example, people searching for their town’s news. He said that 40% of Topix’s traffic comes from Google, but that 50% is organic – meaning that people come via the URL or a bookmark. That means that a solid percentage of Topix’s traffic is return visitors. Tolles noted that when people first visit Topix, they are attracted to the comments.

Mobile Usage Dramatically Increased

Probably the most interesting factoid I discovered about Topix today is that mobile usage is increasing at a rapid rate. Tolles said that in just one year mobile traffic went from 1% to 10% of the site’s total traffic. Most of these are iPhone users: 70% of mobile traffic, as noted above.

What’s more, mobile users are good commenters, too. Tolles said that about 30% of mobile users leave comments on Topix, which is a high ratio when you consider how difficult it is to leave comments via a mobile device.

Tolles noted that Topix has an iPhone app, which was released almost two years ago. However, he said that most of the mobile traffic comes from a mobile browser. Topix supports 38,000 towns or cities, all of which are available via mobile.

Mobile is by far the fastest growing aspect of Topix currently, said Tolles. He also remarked that advertising space in mobile is an open field. Topix monetizes well on the Web, at almost $4 per CPM. However, the mobile side is not quite so high currently. He expects this to grow, but he isn’t sure if it will be Google, Apple or another company that will provide the optimal mobile advertising platform.

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