Event aggregator TownCommons explained (video)

Since our September interview with Adrian Blake, CEO of TownCommons, (see: “Adrian Blake of TownCommons.com, a ‘Google News for local events'”) I’ve signed up for the event aggregator site to customize what events I see as well as receive weekly emails highlighting events in the categories I’m interested in – culture, exercise, food and technology.…

Screenshot from TownCommon’s “What’s TownCommons?” video.

Since our September interview with Adrian Blake, CEO of TownCommons, (see: “Adrian Blake of TownCommons.com, a ‘Google News for local events’) I’ve signed up for the event aggregator site to customize what events I see as well as receive weekly emails highlighting events in the categories I’m interested in – culture, exercise, food and technology.

The weekly email, which is an optional feature, looks something like this (showing one of 16 events):

Screenshot of TownCommons customized weekly email.

TownCommons is currently aggregating events in Omaha and Lincoln, found at omaha.towncommons.com and lincoln.towncommons.com, respectively.

In a screencast video released last month (below), Blake said this about TownCommons:

We gather all our information from public sources and put it into a central database, so we always have more information for fun things to do than any newspaper, broadcaster or other website.

Regarding websites, in the Omaha market they’re putting themselves up against focused event sites like OmahaNightLife.com and Omahype.com as well as aggregator sites like Omaha.net and Omaha.com.

TownCommons is still in public beta, but they’re working hard to become the go-to local events website. If they can continue to keep a high volume of event listings as well as deliver unknown events to its users (which I’ve experienced a few times), they’ll begin to gain momentum in the crowded space.

Here’s a screencast Blake released this past month giving an overview of the site (currently featured on the TownCommons homepage).

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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