The Following is a paid review. Regular readers might be stunned by this. Don’t worry, it won’t become a regular thing. I’m curious about different revenue models – BlogAds, ReviewMe, WPI’s Blog Ad Network etc. Part of this was from the discussion on revenue at the Networked Journalism Summit and part of it is because I want to try entrepreneurial things myself one day. So, why not start as a participant. All that disclosure out of the way — the review below is my honest assessment. I don’t actually know anybody from Shecky’s so I don’t care if they succeed or fail. And don’t think for a minute that I’m getting enough from one post that I can take the rest of the week off.
According to the website "Sheckyâ??s is the multi-platform media company keeping you city-savvy and
in-the-know with a focus on nightlife, fashion, beauty, and everything
fun. Dedicated to daily-brewed online content, Sheckyâ??s also hosts
wildly popular events across the country."
Translation: Shecky’s is an entertainment listing. It covers several
major cities. I checked out San Francisco and New York, the two cities
I know best right now. So I’ll also use this post as a way to compare
and contrast two cities that I love very much.
In General: The best thing I could see about Shecky’s was their "Bar of the Day" thingy-mo-bob. The reason I like it for New York — there are a too many bars in that city to keep track of. I lived in NY for two years. If I wanted, I probably could have gone to a new bar every weekend-night and I never would have made it out of the east-side. That said. I tend to go to bars that my friends drag me to, not bars that a website tells me about. Still – if you are looking for a new ideas on a regular basis, it’s a nice feature.
Do They Really Know The Town?
Shecky’s had a nice feature – find bars in your neighborhood. I lived in Greenpoint for two years. Greenpoint is mostly Polish, just north of Williamsburg. It isn’t the hippest, but it isn’t out in the middle of nowhere. Sure enough Shecky’s had most of my favorite bars listed. Even more surprising, it had pictures of even the small dive bars (This is a bar my friends and I refer to as "death metal bar").
I was impressed with the hyperlocal content.
I recently moved to San Francisco, so I can’t say for certain if they cover the city as well. I imagine they do, as SF is a much smaller city.
For Women?
Um. Under the events category in both cities they were advertising "girls night out," "beauty week" and "beauty day." Needless to say — those didn’t appeal to me. Maybe Shecky’s is going for a female demographic, assuming people like me (boys) don’t need any incentive to go out drinking. Anyways, I don’t really get why they seemed to be aiming at women — but needless to say, the deals on beauty week didn’t really catch my eye. But I doubt I’m their demographic on that one.
Overall
When I lived in New York I often used a site called Free Williamsburg, especially when I wanted to order food. I think Shecky’s would have benefited from having food listings too. They did note when a bar had food — but I’m talking about listing the Thai place down the street. I’ll be honest – Shecky’s isn’t the kind of thing I would use — but I use the internet in a funny way (I think). I work on the internet — I spend almost all my waking hours on it. When I go looking for a bar, I do it on two feet. I can see, however, with people who are less hooked up all the time that the internet is a resource for finding out what is cool and going on in your city (I witness my friends use the internet in this way all the time). In that respects — Shecky’s is right on the money — and exactly what I think a big demographic is looking for.