One idea here (and there are several) that I liked a lot is that of a local social media package that would give you the tools to be plugged into a city, scene, location. Here’ s the concept that Chris Brogan outlines in his blog post:
If I show up at an airport terminal, I wish there were a social media PACKAGE to collect for my phone or my iPod. It would have local podcasts about the area, the restaurants, the night spots, parks, and/or options on whatever other things might matter to me. I like photos? Here are the local Flickr groups, and a videoblog post of local areas to watch. I want to run? Here’s some annotated Google maps PLUS a 15% off coupon (digital) for the local running store.
When you’re visiting a city or planning a vacation, it’s really hard to get the complete picture.
No one site seems to have it covered and then there’s the whole problem of panning the gold from the sand of search engines.
That’s certainly the attraction of Mahalo’s links pages — the good stuff all in one place. High signal to noise ratio.
But it’s more just a set of links; it’s a container delivered digitally to an iPod or iPhone or cell phone or even laptop that allows for the serendipitous discovery of everything you want to know about some physical place. It’s more than see and do; it’s what Brogan calls “local social media.” I’m thinking of it as Spatial Serendipity.
It’s community personality and personalities. It’s vibe and energy. It’s you gotta go, you gotta see, you gotta do.
It would be interesting.
UPDATED: Chris has more on this riff