Sites Compete For ?Community?

Two Web sites, both with a self-described “community focus,” have launched recently as resource guides for Northwest Arkansans. Gopickle.com went online Sept. 1 and NWA360.com officially kicked off in early August. Both compete for a similar audience but with different approaches and business models. Both have business directories and area event calendars.
NWA360 is a project by Brad Lawless, former managing director of the University of Arkansas’ Information Technology Research Institute, and owner of Insight Writing.
Lawless said the site takes some social networking cues from various national sites. NWA360 encourages users to post reviews of restaurants or events, blog and leave messages for other users. The site also has original content and photos of area events. Lawless has not started to sell advertising yet.
Gopickle is a project headed by Chris Brown and two other partners. The site was funded by five investors, but Brown wouldn’t say how much money was gathered to start it up.
Gopickle offers advertisers a streaming video option. Users can click on an advertiser’s listing and a 30-second commercial will play. Commercials are either taken from the client’s existing campaign or produced by Gopickle, Brown said. Ad rates are from $30 to $500 per month.
Brown claims it’s the first site of its kind on the Internet, and said the technology with the streaming video is being patented.
Lawless had 120 unique visitors in September and 205 by late October. Brown said Gopickle generated 90,000 page views in September, but couldn’t say how many unique users had visited the site.