YouGeeCee

TheUniversityReview.com Feature!

2008-06-19T10:08:00.000-07:00

TheUniversityReview.com was recently picked up by www.lovetoknow.com as its #3 top website for college kids! Sweet!

Check us out at: http://www.lovetoknow.com/top10/college-students.html

President's Day Weekend

2008-02-21T13:02:00.001-08:00

Did anyone else see a pretty significant traffic dip over President's Day Weekend on your various websites? I'd be interested to hear your experience if you did...

TheUniversityReview.com Data!

2008-02-21T12:54:00.000-08:00

Given the difficulty of gathering data for TheWorkReview.com (chronicled earlier on this blog), I had naturally assumed that TheUniversityReview.com would be an equal challenge. It turns out that it's not, and I'm not really sure why. Just for the heck of it though, I'm going to take a guess.

First, I think it might be because of the demographic of the visitors. Right now, I'm working to draw young adults and college students to the site to review their colleges & universities. I think this demographic is much more comfortable with sharing information online than the average member of the workforce (with some exceptions, of course).

Second, this data isn't as sensitive as employment data. I think that some people are genuinely concerned about being able to be identified by leaving a review at TheWorkReview.com. And in some cases (for example, a company with 2 employees), they probably can be. With colleges and universities, however, the level of guaranteed anonymity is higher, and the data being shared is perceived to be much less sensitive.

It will be interesting to see if TheWorkReview.com grows as Gen Y and younger enter the workforce. I guess I'll be waiting a while before I have that answer.

TheUniversityReview.com is Live!

2008-02-05T12:04:00.000-08:00

As foreshadowed in my last riveting post, TheUniversityReview.com is now officially live!

Please review your college or university now!

Big Plans!

2008-02-01T07:40:00.000-08:00

So TheWorkReview.com is officially revenue positive - meaning it's generating more income in a month than it's costing to keep it running. That's a long way from profitable - we still need to recover all sunk development costs - but it's a very positive sign.

So positive, in fact, that it has encouraged us to continue developing user-generated-content websites. This is a pre-release announcement of TheWorkReview.com's upcoming sister site TheUniversityReview.com. The idea is the same - large groups of people will generate statistically accurate data over time. This time, however, the things being reviewed are universities, technical schools, colleges, etc. There are other competitors, but again, the ease of data input and lookup really set TheUniversityReview.com apart.

So, this blog will be changing from TheWorkReview blog to a more general User-Generated-Content blog. I'll continue to discuss the trials and tribulations of building these sites (and hopefully offer some insight in the process), but it will be at a more general level, across all of the sites. More are being planned every day (much to my wife's dismay).

As always, if you haven't already, please add and/or review your company, job, or work place. And, this time, please review your college or university!

A bit of me: TheWorkReview.com

2008-01-03T14:06:00.000-08:00

TheWorkReview.com - featured on a top blog!

A bit of me: <font color=gray>TheWorkReview.com</font>

Competition Explosion!

2008-01-03T10:42:00.000-08:00

There's been a really interesting growth of competition since we started getting TheWorkReview.com up and running. When we first started (August/September of 2006), there were only a few others, and most of them older companies (like vault.com) who offered subscription services.

Since then, there has been an explosion of sites nearly identical to TheWorkReview. I won't list them here (we need not promote the competition), but it's sufficient to acknowledge that many implementations of the same idea sprang up at the same time, which is an interesting phenomenon. This pattern has been repeated throughout history, with nearly simultaneous invention occurring throughout the world (the car is an excellent example of this). Interesting that this holds true in such a fast-paced place as web development.

TheWorkReview.com has differentiated itself due to its simple interface and ease-of-use. Also, we've managed to grow our review database much more rapidly than our competitors have, mostly using grassroots techniques to create some interest and buzz about the site. In an interesting contrast to the overall pace of the internet, it seems that some part of success on the web is simply a survival and longevity game as well.

As always, if you haven't already, please add your company and job reviews to TheWorkReview.com. Help us grow, succeed, and continue.

Gathering Data: Trials and Successes.

2007-12-27T19:17:00.000-08:00

After roughly one month in operation, we are up to ~150 companies and reviews! We're well on our way, although going has been slow. I've been surprised how hard it has been to entice users to add data - I had assumed (and quite naively, it turns out) that the data would grow somewhat more organically than it has. To this point, however, it's been a lot of work to understand how users are moving through the site, discovering why they stop using the site and at what points, and generally making it easier to add data. Even with these things in place, gathering data is difficult. It appears that there needs to be a substantial amount of data already in place to build some level of trust between users and the content. I'm guessing here, but I think somewhere around 2K company/reviews is the number at which the site will reach critical mass and begin gathering some momentum without so much pushing.

So, if you haven't already, please add and review your company, and share your knowledge and experience. The next time you're looking for a job, you'll be glad we're around!

Now, we just need data...

2007-11-21T05:02:00.000-08:00

The key to the success of the site is now filling it with good data. Like any user-generated-content site, TheWorkReview.com is completely void of useful data when it's launched. It's now up to the community to get it populated, working, and useful.

We here at TheWorkReview.com will be working like crazy to try to make that happen. Until then, please visit the site and add your information. The next time you're job-hunting, you'll be glad everyone else did!

TheWorkReview.com is Live!

2007-11-19T08:15:00.001-08:00

Starting today, 11/19/2007, TheWorkReview.com is live!

The basic concept is that employees, both past and present, can anonymously review their employers. All reviews for a given company are averaged out, and an overall company ranking is derived. Job hunters, potential employees, company managers, and other interested parties can use the ranking information as a part of their respective decision making processes.

TheWorkReview.com is based on the belief that the community can generate useful, accurate, and appropriate content for consumption.

This blog will serve as an announcement board, a feedback loop for users, and a general discussion forum. As more features are added and as the site is honed, details will be posted here. Stay tuned!

For now, please visit theworkreview.com and review your past and present companies!