Not just local media

A couple of years ago on my old blog I wrote about the UK's local business directory, Yellow Pages and how their online offering, Yell.com, had missed a trick in adding value to the service.  I suggested they should offer some kind of rating system that would allow individuals to rate the services of local trades people such as electricians, plumbers, builders etc.  This is one of the aspects of the Amazon service that I find most useful, particularly when buying more complex products such as cameras and computing accessories.  There are web-based services that do attempt to do something similar for people who need to employ a builder or plumber but none have really taken off and my experience of trying to use RatedPeople.com, one of the higher profile offerings, is that it seems to want a lot of personal  information from you upfront before it will ask one of its trusted partners to call you back.  I don't want someone who I have not selected to call me - I want select and call someone based on the opinions of others.  Looking at Yell.com today, I see they still do not offer anything similar.  Perhaps the complexities and costs of setting up a system outweigh the benefits but without being able to offer something extra, I cannot see much of a future for Yell.  Google offers a similar service and with approximately three quarters of people using Google as their start point on the Internet, Yell may be in a similarly uncomforatable and unprofitable position as local newspapers.

See chart above for a comparison of the share price of Yell.com, Johnston Press (owner of many UK local newspapers) and Google since August 2004 when Google was floated.  I have also added the FTSE 100 to compare the broader stock market.  I know Google is not listed in the UK but you get the picture.  As Peter Kirwan recently wrote: "The argument — still tentatively advanced by John Fry of Johnston Press and others — that we’re witnessing a cyclical correction has never seemed so hollow."