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Archive for category MyFriendSuggests

MyFriendSuggests.com is now theSUGGESTR.com

Apr 29

Posted by fmapap in Local Search, MyFriendSuggests, theSUGGESTR | No Comments

In order to better reflect our core value as a site MyFriendSuggests.com has renamed itself theSUGGESTR.com.  The primary reason for this was to better reflect that our service provides you suggestions.  While we will maintain our friend network functionality we wanted to emphasize that even without a friend network theSUGGESTR.com is able to provide you accurate suggestions based on  your personal tastes and preferences.

We plan on officially (re) launching theSUGGESTR.com soon with our new focus on local suggestions.

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Yahoo Local Map Improvements

Apr 24

Posted by fmapap in Local Search, MyFriendSuggests | No Comments

As Mashable and Screenwerk’s blog reported, Yahoo Local has improved its mapping functionality allowing user’s to move a big blue circle around the map and have the site automatically make changes to their search results. I admit the UI is pretty slick. However I think it is another example of how local search sites continue to miss the bigger issues with local search, the lack of personalization. These systems use ratings as the primary sort order but how do you know if you’ll agree with the rater. Most people who post comments on these sites do so because they had either a really bad or a really good experience (or more likely they know the owner, or ARE THE OWNER). We believe that by predicting a personal rating for each destination is what seperates MyFriendSuggests.com from other local search sites.

Getting back on topic about Yahoo’s new search, I’m the first to admit the look and feel of this feature is pretty slick. However it’s frustrating that when you change any of the search criteria it reruns the search and shrinks the map again (forcing you to click expand). Other than that this feature is a welcome addition to Yahoo’s local search.

P.S. MyFriendSuggests.com’s search functionality also allows you to focus the scope of your search by zooming in or out on the map and clicking “Refresh in Map Area”. It may not look as slick as Yahoo’s but it seems to work well for me.

Local Search Recommendation

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Recommendation Engine Achieves 85% Success

Apr 24

Posted by fmapap in Collaborative Filtering, MyFriendSuggests, Taste | No Comments

As we’ve been able to gather more rating data from our site, MyFriendSuggests.com we’ve been able to run more tests on our unique recommendation algorithm. Our algorithm uniques combines both user based and item based collaborative filtering. Our recent tweaks to the algorithm have shown improvements and we are now able to achieve better than 85% accuracy on our predictions*. We still believe the algorithm can be improved further as we gain more data.

We believe our algorithm is unique in that it combines both user and item based filtering allowing us to build correlations between how similar two places are (in terms of the people who rate them) and how similar people are to each other. We use both of these factors together (in our unique algorithm) to make our recommendations.

Another great side effect of our approach is the ability for us to use our user correlations to help indicate to our members which other members share similar tastes. This allows them to find out which reviews they should consider when reviewing a location. This is a unique distinguisher for MyFriendSuggests.com because unlike the many other local search sites we can help you find the reviews that will help our users most instead of them reading 100’s of contradicting reviews from people who may not share their tastes.

We hope to continue to improve our recommendation algorithm and we’ll keep updating our blog with any other advancements.

* Our testing methodology was done using root mean squared analysis of our predictions versus actual ratings using the Taste API’s evaluator infrastructure.

collaborative filtering MyFriendSuggests.com Recommendation Engine suggestions

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MyFriendSuggests.com: Wish List and Not Interested Features

Apr 18

Posted by fmapap in MyFriendSuggests | No Comments

As part of our latest site update we’ve added two new significant features:

Wish List

Our wish list feature allows users to mark places they come across during their searches or on their personalized recommendation list as part of their wish list.  This feature can be used in the situation where you see a place your interested in going to but not planning on going their right away.  Think of it as a way to remind yourself about some of the places your interested in checking out.  Adding a place to your wish list is as simple as clicking the heart icon found whenever we list a place.

Not Interested

This feature is basically the opposite of our wish list feature.  Instead of telling us to remember a place you want to go you can tell us about places your not interested in going to.  The reason this is important is since we predict places for you we want to know about places that your not interested in so we don’t recommend it anymore.

We hope you take advantage of these new features and don’t hesitate to let us know about other features you want to see.

MyFriendSuggests

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MyFriendSuggests.com Vastly Improves Search Functionality

Apr 15

Posted by fmapap in MyFriendSuggests | No Comments

At the heart of any local search site is its ability to make searching easy. While MyFriendSuggests.com considers itself to be more than just a local search site (remember we give personalized recommendations and predictions on how YOU’LL like a place and we reward you for your opinions) we still know that searching for a great place is at the heart of what we do. In order to improve your experience we’ve completely redesigned our search functionality. Here are the great new features:

  • New AJAX based design makes searching MUCH faster and easier.
  • Use the map to filter the range of your results – this allows you to easily focus your search on the area you want.
  • Flexible sort by allows you to drag and drop your sort by options based on what’s important to you. Most interested in finding a place close by? Or perhaps the most rated place? Or the place with our highest predicted score? It’s as simple as clicking your mouse.
  • View and sort by the number of ratings and comments made by friends. *
  • View and sort by you personally predicted score.* No other site will allow you to quickly and easily see what others thing of a place and also predict what you will think.

* Requires Login

We are very happy with the improvements to our search functionality and encourage you to check them out by clicking here.

We’d also love your feedback – please post a comment on your thoughts on our new search functionality.

Local Search Recommendations restaurants Search

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MyFriendSuggests.com Update – Better Look, Better Search

Apr 5

Posted by fmapap in MyFriendSuggests | No Comments

We’ve updated our code again, this time we’ve changed some more of the look to the site but also completely revamped the search capabilities to make them more useful.  I’ll post a more detailed post on the new search features later.

We’d love any feedback on the new features and/or look.

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MyFriendSuggests.com – New Look

Apr 1

Posted by fmapap in MyFriendSuggests | No Comments

We’ve made a small change to the look of MyFriendSuggests.com, adding a border color so the site looks a little more distinguished. We’ll be making a few more changes in the coming weeks but we’d love to know what you think about the border change.

Comment to this post and let us know.

MyFriendSuggests

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MyFriendSuggests.com Joins New Rewards Program

Mar 22

Posted by fmapap in MyFriendSuggests, Website Marketing | No Comments

We are pleased to announce that MyFriendSuggests.com has joined the MyPerkPlace Perk Network.

MyPerkPlace is a brand new website that aims to allow other websites to reward it’s users for contributing and participating in the growth of a website. For us, that means you get rewarded for things like rating places, adding your comments and inviting friends. For each action you take you earn Perk Points, the Perk Points you earn at MyFriendSuggests.com are then combined with Perk Points you earn at other Perk Network members sites. You then can redeem the points for great rewards, such as gift cards to Circuit City, Amazon.com, Best Buy and many more great stores.

So what’s the catch? Well nothing really – all you do is use MyFriendSuggests.com and earn points, we then notify MyPerkPlace.com about your points and when you earn enough you redeem them! No one ever asks for your credit card and it never costs you a penny (it does cost us some money but it’s our way of saying thanks for helping to grow MyFriendSuggests.com). What’s even better is you don’t even have to sign up for anything, we handle that for you! Over the next week you will get an email with your MyPerkPlace.com login and your transfered balance based on your previous MyFriendSuggests.com activity. You can learn more about our new point program by clicking here.

A few other notes. MyFriendSuggests.com is the first member of the MyPerkPlace.com Perk Network, so at this time you can only earn points through MyFriendSuggests.com, we hope this changes very shortly. MyPerkPlace.com is currently operating under their beta program so some issues may occur during this time period. Also, in good faith we think it’s important to mention that the same people who built MyFriendSuggests.com also built MyPerkPlace.com, however we are treating the two as very seperate sites and MyFriendSuggests.com is treated as just another memer of the Perk Network. Also, per this announcement our privacy policy has been updated.

Thanks,

loyalty MyFriendSuggests rewards

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Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives Map

Feb 27

Posted by fmapap in MyFriendSuggests | 2 Comments

One of my favorite shows on Food TV is Diner’s, Drive In’s and Dives.  The show features Guy Fieri going around the US to great diners, drive ins and dives.  I decided in to add a special google map of Guy’s favorite suggestions to our suggestion site, MyFriendSuggests.com.  You can see the map of Guy’s favorite places by clicking here.

Don’t forget to register for an account at MyFriendSuggests.com and get your own personalized suggestions for local restaurants, bars, hotels and of course Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives!

diners drive ins and dives FoodTV food tv google map guy fieri map suggestion suggestions

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MyFriendSuggests integrates with Google Base

Nov 2

Posted by fmapap in MyFriendSuggests | No Comments

MyFriendSuggests is proud to announce that it has integrated itself with Google Base to provide its users with a more exciting experience.  By bulk loading reviews from Google Base, MyFriendSuggests.com has been able to add 1000’s of reviews to help improve its suggestion and recommendation algorithm that provides personalized suggestions based on user’s personal tastes and their friend network. 

User’s of the site are recommended to Rate Places, asap so they can begin to have more accurate recommendations and suggestions delivered to their doorstep. 

The feed from Google Base will be loading places city by city.  So far feeds for Long Island, NY and Minneapolis, MN have been complete, with many others on the way.  If you’d like your city bulk loaded, please contact us at info [at] myfriendsuggests dot com.

friend network Google Base long island ny MyFriendSuggests personal tastes Social Marketing suggestion

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