Using Social Media to Personalize Local Recommendations, Target Ads

Ticketmaster-Citysearch once had the idea that it could spur local commerce by matching concert goers with nearby restaurants, bars and even parking lots. AOL Digital City and Sidewalk explored similar concepts. But no one got it totally right. Now, Weotta, a five-person start-up that launched at the last TechCrunch Disrupt, is making a go of it, using social media ratings to personalize results.

“We can tell you what is good for your girlfriend, or your parents, or out of town guests,” says founder Grant Wernick. “Long term, it is an intelligent local platform, matching and ranking what goes together,” he says. While similar systems have already been built for various verticals, but Weotta is focusing specifically on local.

Wernick tells us that the company has basically built a classification system of various media that blends user rankings and personalizes each result.

“We have a lot of affiliate relationships,” says Wernick. But that isn’t the key to making money. Instead, he anticipates a lot of highly targeted advertising.

Wernick cites a recent Fast Company article about Ticketmaster stating, “40% of tickets go unsold and 60% of event-goers would attend more shows if they knew they were taking place.” Weotta can theoretically solve this problem by sending inventory to the right people at the right time.