Beta Labs - Yellowpages.com

New Face to YP.com – Check out the video demo

Today we’re excited to announce our new YP.com homepage including the introduction of the YP brand and tagline “YP: Click Less. Live More.”

Our new homepage now features a vibrant, image-based layout that encourages users to eat, play and live – locally. With YP, our goal is to enable users to not only find  and browse, but also discover their local world.

Check out the following home page video demo with YP.com Director of Product Management Brian Kuhn for a compelling tour of the new features.

As we continually evolve and build out new features, we’ll definitely keep you updated.

Ready to find, browse and discover on YP.com? Go and check the new look and feel of YP.com and let us know what you think!

Roger Park
Blog Editor

Watch the Find Events Video Demo

A few months back we wrote about our Find Events feature on YP.COM.

The Find Events feature helps you discover live local events from sporting events, plays, community festivals, food & wine, arts & crafts, retail sales, concerts and more.

We just shot a video with our Senior Product Manager Nicholas Perry giving a quick tour of the Find Events feature.

Do people ask you what’s going on this week? Folks are constantly asking me to find fun events around town. Well, I just simply browse and search the Find Events feature on YP.COM. It’s easy.

Check out the Find Events feature YP.COM everyday – all day – to find out what cool events are happening near you. Use it and let us know what you think!

Roger Park
Blog Editor

At the Movies with YP.COM’s Movie Show Times

Excited to see that big blockbuster movie everybody is talking about? Or maybe you’re more of documentary fan. Maybe you just want to find out what movies are playing in your neighborhood.

Well, on YP.COM, searching for movie theaters and show times makes planning a trip to the movies a little easier.

When you search for movie theaters on YP.COM, you can find your local movie theaters, show times and even purchase tickets online for many theaters.

Associate Director Kevin O’Brien gives an informative demo. Check out the following video.

So, go on YP.COM and check out movie show times near you.

Roger Park
Blog Editor

Tune into the YPmobile App for iPad Demo Video

If you have an iPad, be sure to download AT&T Interactive’s YPmobile App for iPad. It’s available for free in the App Store. Go download it, test it out and start navigating your local lifestyle with the touch of a finger.

Check out Samantha Nebrich, associate director of Mobile Products at AT&T Interactive, in the following demo of the app.

iPad users, what are you waiting for? Go download the app and try it out.  As we build out additional features, we’ll continue to focus on users’ needs to plan, share and manage a multi-device lifestyle — and of course, keep you updated.

Roger Park
Blog Editor

Check out YPmobile for Android — Now with Voice Search!

If you’re an Android user, you don’t want to miss out on AT&T Interactive’s latest release of YPmobile for Android.

YPmobile for Android helps keep your life in motion. Whether you’re searching for pizza, wanting to read reviews on auto mechanics, or in need of a dentist, YPmobile is the place to go when looking for local information.

YPmobile for Android features include:

• New voice search
• Map-based search
• User interface enhancements for search results and details
• Social features – post to Facebook and Twitter and more…

Android users, search for YPmobile on Android Market and download the free app.

Rather download YPmobile for Android from a web store? You can download the mobile app from GetJar.

Android users, what are you waiting for? Go download YPmobile for Android and let us know what you think.

Roger Park
Blog Editor

Try Our New Find Events Feature

AT&T Interactive recently teamed up with Zvents.com on a distribution agreement to introduce a new Find Events feature on YP.COM, the new YELLOWPAGES.COM.

The Find Events feature offers our users easy ways to discover live local events from sporting events, plays, community festivals, retail sales, concerts and more. The event search results on YP.COM gives you what you need to find popular events – as well as ticket prices and the ability to complete the process by purchasing tickets on the spot.

Search for a specific kind of event. Maybe you’re a soccer fan or a wine and food festival foodie. Or you’re looking for an outdoor bluegrass festival or searching for a fun kid friendly arts & crafts fair. Or experimental puppet dance theatre. Maybe you’re into all of these types of events, like me. Well, probably not the experimental puppet dance theatre. Either way, check out the Find Events feature to see what’s happening around you.

Let your friends in on the fun. You can share the event details via Twitter or Facebook.

So the next time somebody asks you “What’s going this week?” with the help of our new Find Events feature on YP.COM, you’ll be ready to share cool events happening near you.

Roger Park
Blog Editor

Introducing YP.COM, the new YELLOWPAGES.COM

Watch the video demo of YP.COM

At AT&T Interactive we know how important local information is so we’re excited to help you discover local in more engaging ways with YP.COM.

Today, YP.COM takes on the role of our flagship web property and brand.

YP.COM is the place to go when looking for local information. Whether booking a hotel room, checking local events, buying movie tickets, making restaurant reservations or shopping for a car, you have more reasons to explore and discover your local world. YP.COM gives advertisers a better opportunity to connect with engaged consumers who are ready to make a decision.

YP.COM features include:

• Proprietary local search technology that provides local, targeted results quickly and easily
• Updated streamlined site design to help you find what you need
• Valuable Ratings and Reviews
• Share tools that enable you to share your local experiences with friends – and even forward information to your mobile device
• More tools, features and information for your local lifestyle

Check out the following demo video of YP.COM.

We’ll definitely keep you updated as we add other useful features to the YP.COM search experience. Your feedback is important so let us know what you think of YP.COM.

So what are you waiting for? Check out YP.COM everyday and start discovering local in new ways!

Roger Park
Blog Editor

Happy Holidays!

The holiday season is here. Although a joyous time, we know how the holidays can be a little stressful. Last minute shopping. Last minute gift wrapping. Last minute traveling. Last minute holiday party planning. Last minute wondering what to do with your third fruit cake gift basket.

Take a breath and relax for a bit. Feel better?

We just want to use this moment to wish you Happy Holidays!

Up at the North Pole, Santa’s elves are finishing up the last touches. While Santa’s elves work hard during the holiday season, the brightest and best here at AT&T Interactive BetaLabs develop innovative ideas into great products all year round. No offense to the Santa’s elves in our reader audience. And you can count on us all year round to keep you updated with our new ideas and developments.

Once again we truly extend our best wishes to you and your loved ones this holiday season!

Roger Park
Blog Editor and Aspiring Elf

AT&T Interactive (ATTi) is recognizing the spirit of the Olympic Winter Games through a new YP.COM Review2Win Sweepstakes.

To enter, simply write a review about your favorite businesses on the new YP.COM Beta site and you and a guest could soon be headed to Vancouver to Cheer on Team USATM at the 2010 Olympic Games! Enter the Review2Win Sweepstakes and write reviews daily for additional chances to win a daily prize, and also try your luck daily at our instant-win game where you’ll have a chance to score some of our hundreds of Visa Gift cards.

$25-$500 Instant-Win Opportunities – Play Daily!
Create a profile on YP.COM Beta and write a review about a favorite business. Then register to play — if you get three matching Olympic Winter Games sports figures, you’ll instantly win a Visa Gift card valued between $25 and $500! You can review as many businesses as you like, but are limited to one entry per day.

Enter the Grand Prize Sweepstakes
Register for the sweepstakes to get an opportunity to win the Grand Prize — a trip for two to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. The random drawing will be held at the end of the promotion period. Log in and write reviews once each day to earn another entry into the Review2Win Sweepstakes.

The contest ends December 31, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. (ET) so don’t wait for your chance to win great prizes and to be part of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games.

Spread the Word
A “Tell a Friend” function allows you to share the Review2Win Sweepstakes with your friends and family to give them a chance to win, too. So every time you play, “Tell a Friend.”

See the new YP.COM Beta site for complete official contest rules.

Ratings and Reviews on YELLOWPAGES.COM

Last week we launched the Review2Win Sweepstakes on yp.com and YELLOWPAGES.COM. The sweepstakes should generate increased awareness of our ratings and review feature (games, prizes and trips are gauranteed to get our attention!) so we decided that this was a great opportunity to introduce Nicholas Perry – the ratings and reviews feature manager. We asked him to give us an overview of the feature and highlight why ratings and reviews matter in local search.

“People generally trust online reviews more than critic reviews and editorials. They want to read what other people thought about a business, learn why others rated a business highly or poorly, and get a better idea of whether they want to use that particular business or not. Ratings and reviews help a user differentiate between businesses that otherwise seem very similar.

On YELLOWPAGES.COM and yp.com we allow users to rate businesses on a scale of 1-5 stars and write a review of their experience with a business. We also aggregate reviews from other sites to increase the number of ratings and reviews that we provide to our users.

On the yp.com site, we use the reviews to help provide relevant results. If many users are praising a restaurant’s lasagna in their reviews, then that business may be a better match for a user searching for “lasagna” than other Italian restaurants

We filter reviews* for violations of our specific guidelines, such as profanity, slander, or spam. If a user writes an honest, factual review of a bad experience they had with a business, then that review will remain on our sites. We can’t control everything, but the more real users we have reviewing each business, the less impact fake reviews will have.

We present the reviews in order of review date. Recent experience with a business is most relevant to how the business is performing now, helping a user make a decision on which business to use.

We recognize the importance of including businesses in the ratings and reviews process. We allow businesses to reply directly on the site to each review so business owners can have an open dialogue with their customers for positive or negative reviews. This dialogue between consumers and the business can be very valuable to everyone. And, since we recognize that some businesses are also concerned about the quality of reviews we do allow businesses to opt out of reviews altogether. However, as online reviews are extremely valuable and important to consumers, the vast majority of businesses do allow users to review their business.

There are many prizes available during our Review2Win Sweepstakes, so take this opportunity to provide very valuable insight into local businesses that you love or hate. Your voice will be heard by our large user base and may help your neighbors make good decisions on which local businesses to use.

Watch for new innovations with our Ratings and Reviews feature in the future. We are currently in the process of developing new functionality which we plan to introduce in 2010. Of course, if you have any ideas that you’d like to see on the site, just drop us a note. All ideas are welcome!

Nicholas Perry
Sr Product Manager

* “We are under no obligation to monitor any reviews; however, we reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to monitor, edit and/or remove any reviews for any reason, investigate possible violations of our User Review guidelines, and enforce any rights available to us as a result of any such violation.”