Hey there!
We’re working on some new cool features. Soon you’ll be able to follow your favorite locations (you can already follow people). We’re also building a new page to show these hapnins; from the locations and people you follow.
It’s looking good! We think this will help you cut through our data to find the best hapnins for you.
Greg and The Hapnin Team
We’ve added a lot of the features from the mobile site to Hapnin.com. If you’ve only used the mobile site (m.hapnin.com) stop by http://hapnin.com and check it out.
Now you can login on http://hapnin.com and share/recommend (with the heart) things to do on the site or add your own. You can also add them to your list (with the star.)
On Hapnin.com you can also view things to do a few days in advance, this is always useful.
—Coming Soon—
iPhone app, will be ready soon, if you have an iPhone and want to help us test it, email me
social filters, soon you’ll be able to find things to do based on your friends’ shares/recommendations
Until next time,
Greg and the Hapnin Team
Hello Hapnin Users!
We wanted to share the news about some cool new Hapnin Mobile features including Twitter integration, one-off recommendations and upcoming apps.
—Twitter—
In case you didn’t see the Twitter link at the bottom of the screen on http://m.hapnin.com, you can now link your Hapnin and Twitter accounts! When you add a recommendation, you’ll have the choice to share it with your Twitter followers.
It’s easy to setup!
1- login to http://m.hapnin.com
2- click the Twitter link at the bottom of the screen or click here http://m.hapnin.com/oauth/authorize_twitter
3- add a recommendation!
Bonus: if you have a blog you can add an event stream to it. When people see your recommendations via Twitter, they can click a link that sends them to your blog! (email me for details, greg@hapnin.com)
—One-off Recommendations—
This one was suggested by you guys! Now when you add a recommendation, you can specify a date or date range. This is great for recommending concerts, sample sales, etc.
—Upcoming—
We’re currently working on an iPhone app. It’s really great. Soon Hapnin Mobile will be available on the iPhone, G1 and Blackberry.
Until then, you can access Hapnin Mobile from http://m.hapnin.com (make sure you bookmark it in your phone’s browser!)
Lastly, send me some feedback, I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! (greg (at) hapnin.com)
Talk soon,
Greg and The Hapnin Team
When you’re counting down the time before the end of your workday, Hapnin is a great place to plan your night. We have a ton of hyperlocal things to do, from concerts to community and happy hours to food specials.
But what happens when you step out of the office? Surely there should be away to find all your hyperlocal favorite things to do while you’re on the go. This is exactly what we’ve been working on lately, Hapnin Mobile.
I’m going to share more details soon, but for now let me tell you we’ve made a cool mobile website with a social twist…
Try Hapnin Mobile today via the web: http://m.hapnin.com.
Apps coming soon!
Just in time for summer, our blogger spotlight turns to TonisNightOut.com. Her blog covers lots of local concerts.
What’s your blog all about?
My blog, TonisNightOut.com is all about Rock N’ Roll and the concerts I go to. I’ve always loved going to concerts and taking photos and my blog is where I keep everyone updated. It’s meant to connect fan to fan from a personal perspective providing a new way to not only read about your favorite artist but to experience them live! I write music reviews, take photographs, live video performances and even one on one interviews with the artists themselves, all shot from select venues in NYC and around the tri-state area. I also keep you up to date on trendy hot spots and celebrity sightings.
What are the best concerts this summer?
I’m looking forward to U2 and Muse at Giants Stadium, All Points West in Liberty State Park, and the Stone Temple Pilots at the Borgata in Atlantic City.
What’s your fav hood and venue/shop/store? Why?
I like anywhere downtown, especially the MEatpacking Dist and the West Village. The Highline Ballroom is my new favorite place to catch a show.
What’s your best NYC tip?
To get to the front of the stage, arrive a little early and keep a smile on your face as you work your way through the crowd. Be courteous. It will keep you out of trouble.
On a Saturday night you’ll find me…
…out with friends watching live music or having a nice dinner.
Yankees of Mets?
I’m not into sports, but if I had to choose, I would have to say the Yankees.
Blogger Spotlight
Lifestylermag.com Helps You Save a Buck
I caught up with Lauren Fairbanks, the Founder/Editor of Lifestylermag.com, for some NYC tips.
What’s your blog all about?
LifeStyler is all about living in NYC on a budget. We cover free and cheap local events, as well as show you how to save money doing everything from setting up a retirement account to grocery shopping.
What’s your favorite hood and store?
My favorite neighborhood is Ditmas Park, it’s really affordable, and my fav store is Housing Works. They’re a thrift store/ AIDs foundation, that sells furniture, clothing, and housewares. I furnished my kitchen for around $30!
On a Staurday night you’ll find me…
…at a bar in my neighborhood, probably Sycamore.
Yankees of Mets?
Yankees
What’s your best tip for going out in NYC?
Karma bar because you can smoke there. It’s never crowded after work and they have lots of red velvet furniture. It’s old swanky dive meets dive bar.
Want your blog featured? Send an email to greg@hapnin.com.
Event Stream Updates
Price filters: Now you can sort your event stream by price!
We’re excited to announce the soft-launch of Hapnin.com, our hyper-local events platform. We’ve put a lot of thought and effort into what we included (and excluded) in this release. This is a sketch of our vision, you can see what our goal is, but there’s a lot more to do!
The Problem and Solution
Showing hyper-local, time sensitive events is critical and the response has been positive. Please leave your thoughts in the comments section. It’s hard to find something to do nearby if you have a short time horizon (now - 24 hours.) Hapnin.com aims to solve this problem by showing you fun things to do.
The Platform
From the very beginning, we wanted to strengthen our community and the connection people have to it. Sharing our information is the best way to do this. Hapnin.com is a platform, which means you can take a slice (or all) of our event stream and create a “things to do section” on your site.
Check out these sites that have their own event streams:
http://www.SoUrban.net/east-village-events
http://greasyguide.com/harlem-nyc-events/
http://thisbarsucks.com/events-calendar-brooklyn-new-york/new-york-brooklyn-events/
We know Hapnin.com will help people find great things to do in their neighborhoods and we hope they’ll feel more connected to their community.
Greg
“The whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts.” -Aristole
We believe aggregation and filters have an incredibly important role to play on the Internet today and in the future. There is simply too much information for any person to process. A source is needed to collect the data and people must be able to filter it based on their preferences.
Fred Wilson, on AVC.com, articulates why aggregators are important:
“There is no way that anyone can consume all of the content that is available and relevant to them. And no media property, be it the Wall Street Journal or any other content creator, can produce even 5% of the best content I want to consume daily.”Below, I will expand on this idea by describing Craigslist and Hapnin.
A natural synergy exists between passive search and hyper-local content. At Hapnin, we’re building a platform and the tools to make it as easy (and fun) as possible to find hapnins around you that are going on now.
Active Search, Passive Search and Data
Most people are very comfortable searching for info online. The process is straightforward, go to your favorite search engine and type in your query, “when is Easter 2009,” “bar on A map,” or “Bronx Zoo.” This behavior is called active search; you’re actively looking for information. For many queries, actively searching is the best way to find the data because it’s direct and unanticipated. With active search, you’re pulling data from a source. A thought pops into your head and you search.
Passive search allows you to setup criteria and have the data pushed to you. Financial data, weather, social feeds and RSS are excellent examples of passive search. It is much more convenient for you to setup your portfolio in Google Finance than it is to actively search for each quote. When you want to, you can easily check your portfolio and see its changes without searching. (The data is just there when you need it, no searching required.)
Twitter and Facebook are also good examples of passive search. On both sites, you select people who are important to you, people you want to receive information from. Once they are selected (accepted your friend request), the data they share will be pushed to you. You don’t need to look at everyone’s profile, you can see all the news that’s important to you in your feed. This is one reason these sites have exploded in popularity, it’s easy to get information you care about.
Passive Search and Hyper-Local Events
Why can’t we do this with hyper-local events? Why can’t you select a neighborhood and event category and get updated? The Coovents East Village Twitter account shows the synergy between passive search and hyper-local events. The Coovents_East account tweets every time a happy hour in the East Village starts. When you follow this account (criteria) it will send (push) you data.
What’s Next
There is so much more to do with passive search and hyper-local content. One of our goals is to make our service so useful and intuitive that you don’t need to search for events, rather they’ll come to you. I’m usually looking for interesting things to do on Saturday and Sunday afternoons in New York. Why can’t these events be pushed to me when I want them?
Soon, finding hyper-local events will be much easier.
Greg
