Articles by LikeList Community

You are currently browsing LikeList Community’s articles.

Traveler’s List: Santa Barbara, California

May 3, 2010 in AlikeList features, Local Businesses, Local Locations, Social Media, Travel by LikeList Community | No comments

AlikeList has several examples of creating and sharing lists - for travel, events, storing important places, and planning a day with friends or family. I like to use AlikeList for making a travel list. Here are a few exceptional, local places in Santa Barbara, California followed by a list you can post and share.

Depending on where you go, Santa Barbara can be a mix of elements from the South of France to bits of Hawaii, blended with the vibe of Malibu. Spending a few relaxing days in Santa Barbara or passing through on your way north or south? I found these wonderful local places to go to on AlikeList.com from friends. I was equally lucky to locate a fantastic spot for brunch on the beach (Shoreline beach cafe), shopping, and dinner at Live Culture Lounge from the concierge at Fess Parkers' resort (five stars for helpful!). Try starting the day at Fess Parker's Doubletree resort by the pool after a quick run to their coffee bar. Follow with a bike ride (or roller blade, surrey) along the beach to the Shoreline Beach Cafe for brunch, stopping at the Wharf for fresh fudge and sea shells.

On State Street, you can discover wine tasting at Kalyra, shopping at boutiques on mid-state street, and dinner at Live Culture - a lounge escape of delicious food, art, live music, and friendly faces. Nearby in Montecito, Stella Mare's, shouldn't be missed for traditional French cuisine or cocktails in the evening. Cava offers a South American tapas lounge and and the merriment of live Spanish guitars. On chilly evenings, you can relax by the fireplace or in the outdoor terraza during summer evenings. The Coral Cafe and Bar at The Four Seasons hotel features jazz nights, chocolate martinis, coffee, dessert, and a full menu/bar. It's nestled among the trees along the coast in the beautiful Montecito village.

Have kids? There's a carousel and playground a few steps from the beach (Shoreline Park on Shoreline Drive and La Marina), close to State Street as well as a fun park and playground in a town square park setting called Alameda Park (1400 Santa Barbara Street, near the Mission). Alameda Park features Kids World, an 8,000-sq-ft (743-sq-m) playground with a castle, swings and slides. [inline][/inline] [inline][/inline]

Tags: Beach Travel, Central California, Santa Barbara, Travel

Wine Tasting, Picnics, and Concerts near Saratoga, California

April 26, 2010 in AlikeList features, Events, Local Businesses, Local Locations, Local events, Uncategorized by LikeList Community

Spring is finally warming up - perfect time to cherish a picnic on a sunny afternoon at one of the nearby wineries/concert areas. Listed here are a few local favorites along with a new iPhone wine app from Approach Guides (agwine.com). You can choose wine on location by style, grape variety, region, or food pairing! [inline][/inline] [inline] [/inline]

Creating a Local Favorites List to Go (The Rose Garden in San Jose)

April 20, 2010 in Child Category I, Child Category II, Events, Grandchild Category I, Local Businesses, Local Locations, Local events, Parent Category I, Promotions, Social Media by LikeList Community | 1 comment

Now that you know how to create a LikeList (simply click the Like button by your favorite business), you can customize a 'favorites' list (call it whatever you want to call it), embed it, and take it with you on the go! Below is an example of our embedded list feature.

-----

Spending a few hours in San Jose? I recommend a peaceful, warm stroll around the Rose Garden neighborhood and historic gardens.

Starting the day at Bill's cafe, you can have an incredible vintage diner style breakfast in a nice round booth. They even have a mini breakfast option! From there, you can take a stroll up the street or drive a few blocks to the Municipal Historic Rose Garden in San Jose. The Rose garden is a public display and grounds park featuring acres of lawn and gorgeous roses - perfect for a picnic or a stroll on a warm day. My cousin Tracy visited me from Michigan and we did a few cartwheels in this park. Well, I tried to do a cartwheel - have you tried to do one recently?

What is the Rose Garden neighborhood? In 1937, John Crummey, the chairman of FMC, subdivided his 25 acre pear orchard into residential lots, establishing the core of the neighborhood. The neighborhood is lined with older, beautiful historic homes, gardens, and they even have a parade every year on The Alameda.

If you have little ones, The Rose Garden library is a wonderful place to take the kids to story time or the large collection of children's books. There is a play area behind the library and it's kitty-corner from the Rose Garden park.

The Egyptian Museum is on the same block. Stroll down to the museum and for lunch, I highly recommend Zanotto's grocery store. It offers indoor and outdoor seating and an incredible selection of picnic style items. Even better, stop at Zanotto's and have a picnic in the Rose Garden!

Voila, you have a well-planned, enjoyable itinerary from the morning until the afternoon - Enjoy your day!

-Dena Lawless, Social Marketing Director

[inline][/inline] [inline][/inline]

Hello World! AlikeList Announces Facebook Connect So You Can Share with All Your Friends

March 3, 2010 in AlikeList features, Social Media by LikeList Community | No comments

Today we’re happy to announce that you can now post Shares and Asks directly to your Facebook wall. By tapping into the power of the world's biggest social network we can help you get trusted word of mouth recommendations from your friends quicker than ever before!

You can also join and sign in using Facebook Connect. Just click “Connect with Facebook” to start sharing your favorite businesses with Facebook friends, regardless of whether they’re AlikeList members or not.

Sharing more than photos with Facebook friends

It's easy to share a business with friends on AlikeList. Beneath each business listing on AlikeList you'll see a Share link. Once you click, you’ll be asked if you want to publish your Share to your Facebook wall. Click “Accept” and you’re done!

Within seconds, your Share -- along with any message you want to add -- is posted to Facebook. It's a cool way to help your friends discover new restaurants, retailers, professionals and other businesses you like.

Get a little help from friends

Let’s say you’re in need of a plumber, but when you search for one on AlikeList, no recommendations from friends come up. By easily leveraging the relationships you have on Facebook, you’ll be able to get the recommendations you need -- quickly!

Here’s how you do it: Click the Ask friends tab at the top of your AlikeList homepage and you'll see that you can ask friends via email, AlikeList mail, or by asking your friends on Facebook. Just like Sharing, your question is posted to your Wall and will appear on your friends’ News Feeds so they can give you a quick answer.

The power of Asking friends on Facebook is incredible. Within an hour of asking for a recommendation, I already had two solid referrals from people I know and trust!

By connecting with your friends on Facebook, AlikeList lets you tap into the wisdom of your social network to solve life's daily problems. It's fast, it's easy and it's free. Come try it out!

Tags: Ask and Share, Facebook, Share with Friends

Heard ‘em Through the Grapevine: User Testimonials

February 19, 2010 in Feedback by LikeList Community | No comments

We don’t want to toot our own horn, but we’re pretty excited about what people are saying about AlikeList. Since I read a lot of user feedback everyday, I thought I’d share some of the great comments that I’ve received:

“This is great ... we moved a few month ago and it's always hard to find new businesses where you live, after you had it all figured out before you moved. This site takes the guess work out of [finding] the services that you need for your house.” "With the economy the way it is, I made a promise to try and shop at local businesses more. The difficulty is, of course, finding the right ones in the area. I like that this website is a compiling of recommendations from people in your local area." "I love getting recommendations by word-of-mouth! This way I don't have to look through the yellow pages randomly picking something based on how I like the ad." "This is a great website to condense all your favorite places. How cool to be able to connect with friends and not have to keep asking them "what was the name of that restaurant you liked so much?" Well there it is! If you have any feedback for us (good or bad), feel free to email us at feedback@alikelist.com.

Tags: Feedback, Testimonials

The AlikeList Staff on AlikeList.com: It Really Does Work!

February 10, 2010 in Local Businesses, Miscellaneous by LikeList Community | No comments

Way back in August ’09 when AlikeList was in it’s toddler phase, co-founder Jim Delli Santi wrote a blog post explaining AlikeList’s mission when it was founded. He lamented that he and the other co-founders always had a hard time finding good local restaurants, doctors, auto mechanics – you name it – online.

All three of us agreed that today’s local offerings were falling short of making life simpler… It’s easy to get overwhelmed with too much information, too many local choices and too many reviews to read from people we don’t know or trust.

We set out to build AlikeList, a place where like-minded individuals and groups of people can share and find trusted local recommendations through word-of-mouth. Just like they do offline, only better because we make these local recommendations searchable, available 24 x 7, and accessible from anywhere.

Now, six months later, the AlikeList staff is finding trusted local businesses through AlikeList almost every day. Since most staff members are friends with each other on alikelist.com, we each have at least 30 AlikeList friends. That creates an incredibly valuable database of recommendations from

Mission Ranch in Carmel, CA

people we actually trust. No more sifting through reviews or random business listings for us! With the constant chaos of a start-up, and the coming and going of off-site employees, we can all truly see and experience the value of AlikeList. Take Jeff, our Director of Business Operations, for example. He was in need of two new mattresses for his growing daughters. He looked on AlikeList and saw that our Director of Social Marketing was a friend of Jim, the manager at Mancini’s Sleepworld in Saratoga, CA and highly recommended the store. So Jeff put it on his TryList, and on the same day went into the store and got a great deal on two top-notch mattresses – for two happy daughters at home. Last weekend, I was heading down to Carmel, CA and on Friday afternoon, realized I didn’t have a clue what to do there. I sent out an Ask to 15 people, asking them to recommend a good place to get a drink. Within an hour, I had 10 responses. One of the best ones said to get a drink at Clint Eastwood’s Mission Ranch, on the back deck, during sunset if possible. That kind of recommendation would have taken me hours of researching online to find – and even then I wouldn’t have trusted it because it would have come from a complete stranger. For the AlikeList staff, it’s really nice to know that whenever we need anything local – a restaurant, chiropractor, auto mechanic – we know exactly where to look. We don’t even have to bother asking one another, which is good because we’re always so busy! (In fact, I should get back to work...)

Tags: AlikeList, Jim Delli Santi, Mancini's, Mission Ranch, Recommendations

Video: What is AlikeList?

February 1, 2010 in AlikeList features by LikeList Community | No comments

Check out our new demo video, "What is AlikeList?" below. Many thanks to Rico and the rest of the team at Transvideo Studios for doing such a fabulous job!

Tags: demo, video

In Defense of Twitter

January 25, 2010 in Miscellaneous, Social Media by LikeList Community | No comments

Contrary to popular belief, Twitter is about more than just telling people “I ate oatmeal for breakfast.” It’s actually a great place to find news and entertainment updates, get special deals and discounts and even find a job. (That’s what our new Director of Social Marketing did!) News: Get real-time news updates like a California earthquake or the Hudson plane crash before there’s a peep about it in the media. Entertainment: It’s not stalking – it’s following! Follow your favorite movie stars, food critics, athletes and more to get an inside glimpse of what they’re like when they aren’t being chased by paparazzi. Networking: Find people who like peanut-butter and pickle sandwiches just like you! And keep tabs on business contacts to see what conferences they’ll be attending and any new ventures they’re tackling. Deals and discounts: Follow your favorite hotels, airlines, stores, bars and more because they often tweet special offers just for their Twitter followers. Knowledge of the masses: Have a question? Forget searching for the answer on Google. Just type in (for example), “Do fish hiccup?,” to get an immediate response from your friends and followers. Find a job: Here’s some proof that this actually works – A few months ago, our future Director of Social Marketing decided to search for a Sr. Social Marketing position within her own playground – Twitter. “I used Twitter to discover social media panels and events to meet the kind of people I like to know and work with. Dave Allen of Pampelmoose (@pampelmoose) spoke at an HP social media panel and SF Music Tech (#sfmusictech). He introduced me to ‘Frosty’ from HP (@frostola), who didn’t have an exact date for an opening on his team, but referred me to a blogger/Ad exec/event producer with interesting tweets (@britopian). Brito’s blog listed a few great opportunities exactly in the space I wanted to be in and a couple of weeks later, I happily joined AlikeList as the new Director of Social Marketing. I heart Twitter.” RT this if your found it helpful!

Tags: deals, find a job, networking, Twitter

Tips for Tips

January 6, 2010 in Local Businesses, Miscellaneous by LikeList Community | No comments

We’re all consumers. On any given day, we might go out for lunch, get the oil checked or buy a friend a birthday gift. We want to know that what we’re spending our money on is worth it (and that’s what AlikeList is for!) But in addition to AlikeList, there are lots of helpful sites out there that can help you make wise decisions when buying products or services, such as: Better Business Bureau (BBB) http://www.bbb.org/ : Find BBB Accredited Businesses, access reports on specific businesses or (knock on wood) file a complaint. Diamond Certified http://diamondcertified.com : Use this site to find only the highest quality contractors and service providers in the SF Bay Area. Consumer Reports http://www.consumerreports.org : Read reviews of consumer products, find deals and promotions for what you’re looking for and stay up-to-date on the newest products. CNET http://reviews.cnet.com/ : When it comes to quality reviews of electronics and software, this is the place to go. You get the editor’s rating and the average user’s rating, too. UrbanSpoon http://www.urbanspoon.com : Like CNET, UrbanSpoon gives your restaurant reviews from “critics, food bloggers and friends,” so you can decide whom to believe! TripAdvisor http://www.tripadvisor.com/ : Before travelling, make sure the expensive resort you’ll be staying at is worth its price. And find some fun things to do while you’re there, too. Now that we’ve given you some helpful tips, give us some! We’re always trying to improve AlikeList to make it more useful for we consumers, and the best way to do that is to communicate! So don’t be shy – let us know what you think at feedback@alikelist.com

Tags: BBB, Consumer Reports, Feedback, Recommendations, Tips

« Older entries