New York — In the battle to conquer the local online market, AOL and Yahoo have adopted a model that is heavy on listings and ratings. But, Microsoft is trying a different route. The company is rolling out a revamped version of its MSN City Guides site this week, in a move the company calls “one step in a long term plan to help local users,” for 30 US cities, including the ability to share activities with others via the site.
The revamped MSN City Guides makes a sizable use of Live Search and Live Search Maps as well as video and social media. Users can exchange information through Windows Live and Facebook. Microsoft says this makes event organization easy.
“With Live Search and Live Search Maps integrated into the new experience, making a decision about what to do and where to go just got a lot easier,” says a post from the Lives Search Team.
The objective, according to Scott Moore, U.S. executive producer of MSN: Differentiate the site from competitors. “Everybody has kind of approached this space in a similar way as sort of an entertainment guide,” he said in a statement. “Most do not have news at all, do not have weather.”
Moore visualizes MSN City Guides as a center for users to start the day. He calls it an “information dashboard for your life.” “That is the vision, we are not there yet, but it moves us in that direction,” Moore said.
The new MSN City Guides features a complete redesign, with customized themes for different cities as well as local videos and maps. Some of the key enhancements include:
Local search results from Live Search are incorporated throughout the site. This applies to all ZIP codes within the United States at this point. The Live Maps is below the fold and requires the user to click a button that says “web” near the search box. It then creates a minimized pop-up window with the Live Search results.
“Sorting capabilities will help make it easier to decide where to go based on your chosen criteria,” says Microsoft. “For example, type in [baseball] as an event search and you can sort by relevance, date, type, or within a certain mile radius.”
Moore said that MSN is doubling down on the local space because the company believes it is underserved online. Microsoft recently re-appointed “Cyrus Krohn,” who helped start Slate Magazine to lead the programming strategy for future MSN Local efforts.
Nevertheless, competitors continue to target that market. MySpace recently partnered with CitySearch to launch MySpace Local, which includes “CityHub” pages for all major cities in the United States; MySpace members can search for local businesses and see instant reviews.
Krohn was at Microsoft from 1996-2005 under Scott Moore, and then left to follow Moore to Yahoo!. Krohn was and most recently was eCampaign Director for the Republican National Committee, but left to again follow Moore back to Microsoft.