We’re really happy unveil some new features on Localist! A completely redesigned event calendar, city browser and personal dashboard are ready for you to use.
Oh, and… drumroll please… our API is now public! That means you can access all sorts of event and venue information to use as you wish.
What you need to know:
New calendar
- Focuses on 1 day, rather than an entire week
- Tons more information about events
- More sorting options
- Easier to navigate
- This is changed for cities, businesses and users
New browsing & searching
- More results per page
- More sorting options
New dashboard
- Based on user feedback, much easier to read
We’ll be posting a more in-depth entry for the Localist API later this week.
As always, let us know if you find any issues by contacting us.
“ You want bleeding-edge, mission-critical, cross-platform robust scale. What you want is events. Pure E. Not old, not hired, not stepped on. Not one gram of E and 10 grams of baby laxative. Pure E. That’s what Localist does. And somehow when E changes, we’re there first on the shore. Beckoning. Is there anyone who can aggregate the way we can? I don’t think so.
A clause that didn’t make the cut in our business plan…
We’ve updated our event ranking algorithms to really nail down what’s popular. If you see an event that shouldn’t be where it is, let us know.
Localist now automatically exports your event information to Zvents, Upcoming and Eventful!
It means you only need to add your event once on Localist for the listing to appear on the most popular event listing services in the world.
You’re welcome!
Due to popular demand, an Excel file is now available to quickly add multiple events to Localist. Download the file, add your events, and send it along to info [at] localist.com. The events will be added promptly.
Download the file here.
Inspired by our Twitter shenanigans, we’ve gone nuts making our Facebook integration as neat as possible.
You can now sign up and log in to Localist using just your Facebook account. It’s so ridiculously easy.
Here’s the cool part: You can now keep your Facebook friends up-to-date with your activities! Whenever you make plans, you have the option to publish the information on your Facebook profile.
Think: Facebook’s Events application, but actually useful.
From our experience with the APIs of the big players in the event listing market
(Upcoming, Zvents, Eventful, TicketMaster, etc.), it is evident there is no standard
format being used to exchange event information behind the scenes.
Each API arbitrarily assigns its own naming scheme, date formats and data structure. We’ve had to pick up the slack at Localist by developing customized parsers to retrieve and standardize the information for each service.
We’d like to start a discussion with interested people in the industry about creating a standardized data interchange format. We’ve already created a preliminary standard, dubbed ELF (Event Listing Format), that can easily work with all existing services, along with an explanation of how it complements hCalendar. You can check out some example RAW XMLs too.
We know this community is filled with ridiculously smart people — some who may be interested in taking part in this discussion. If you, or anyone you know would like to be involved, shoot an e-mail to myke at localist.com.
UPDATE: A wiki page has been created to bring some organization to everyone’s ideas. There’s also a discussion happening in #elf on Freenode.
Localist Smash!!
We found it frustrating to see people on Twitter referring to the same event with different hashtags. After all, what’s the point of tagging something if nobody agrees on the name of the tag? A disorganized mess, we say!
Thus, every event and business on Localist now has its own unique hashtag so it can be easily referenced on Twitter. Check out Sonar or Ignite. See the little “Hashtag:” item? That’s what you’ll be using in your tweets.
So, bear with us while we attempt to illustrate your new, high falutin’ abilities:
What do you do with this hashtag? You make plans with it, of course! Simply put @localist, then the #hashtag anywhere in your tweet and your plan will be made! If you went somewhere yesterday, include “was” or “went” in your tweet. Here are some examples:
- @localist went to #sonar
- Will make a plan to go to Sonar, with yesterday’s date.
- @localist going to #ignite_baltimore
- Will make a plan to attend the Ignite Baltimore event
- @localist heading to #sonar, then going to #redbull_happy_hour
- Will make a plan to go to Sonar and attend the Redbull Happy Hour event
So now you’re saying, “Okay smart guy, what if I’m too busy to look up the hashtag?”
Pff, easy!
- @localist going to Sonar
- Will try to figure out what “Sonar” means and make a plan for it. It works pretty darn well, actually!
Phew! I know I’m confused. Give us a tweet if you need some help.
Visit m.localist.com on any mobile phone to view Localist in all its tiny-resolution glory. The site is designed to load fast while still delivering all the great information you need, so don’t worry about missing out on anything.
For best results, use a phone that supports full-HTML browsing (iPhone, T-Mobile G1, Blackberrys, etc). If you notice any strange quirks, don’t hesitate to contact us.
Some more exciting things are coming soon. Stay tuned!
You can now create and update your plans on Localist through Twitter! Specify your Twitter username in the Settings section of Localist to get started. Then, tweet your plans.
An example:
@localist going to Sonar
Localist will automatically update your plans for you.
