NateBW: Thoughts on life, the internet, and everything

The site sees a lot of activity locally in terms of reviews and discussion. The only part that has been missing is the real-life get-togethers. This can either be in the form of official events, organized by Yelp, or Unofficial Yelp Events (UYEs) organized by the community. There are typically many more UYEs than official events.

I've been thinking of organizing a Tampa UYE for some time, but haven't done it until now! To welcome a friend from out of town, I've organized an impromptu UYE at BurgerMonger on Dale Mabry for Sunday 10/3. Please read the info on Yelp for all the details, including the Yelper discount.

Of course, non-Yelpers are welcome, too, so I'd love to see you there. And even if you can't make it, help spread the word!

-Nate

I had written this up on the Yelp Talk Page, but figured that I should open it up to everyone, even if they are not super active in Yelp. I do believe the community nature of help and think it has a lot of potential in Tampa Bay.

I've been a Tampa Yelper for a couple of years. While I do think the scene is building, it think it is slow. This is surprising to me because I feel that Tampa has a vibrant social/tech scene. What really proved it to me was foursquare: After Tampa was unlocked, it didn't take long for people to start using foursquare. And the Tampa folks really, and I mean really, rallied around Foursquare Day. It was a proud day for us all. It showed me that Tampa is ready for anything; we don't have to just sit back and watch NYC and southern California.

So what can we do to grow the Yelp community? I think we area  long way off from getting a CM in Tampa. Too many factors that yelp looks at that we don't meet. So it is up to us. I'd like to get some ideas from the Elites. We can keep this thread growing and spin off more as needed.

• We should come up with a schedule I try to have one UYE a month, rotated in different parts of the bay area to reach different people.
• If you know of business owners who not just have reviews, but are active in the Yelp community, reach out to the and see how they'd like to be involved.
• We need to use our Facebook, Twitter and other networks to grow the local Yelp scene. I'm going to start using the hashtag #YelpTPA for this purpose.

So even if you are too busy now, if you are interested in build yelp in Tampa, then drop a quick reply in this thread and we can make a list of interested people

THANKS EVERYONE!

Careme's Market: 4 stars

My first thought was that, because it was in Lutz, it would be far away. In fact, it wasn't very far north of Bearss Ave, which I take on my way home from work.

Upon entering, Careme's immediately reminded me of the some of the places north of Chicago, except it is bigger. And there is plenty of parking. The background music was nice jazzy vocals. Everything was super clean and new looking.

They have a mix of ready-to-eat prepared food and sandwiches, deli meats and cheeses, packaged food, cold beverages, and a decent wine selection.

The shelves offer a wide variety of items, including coffee, pasta, beans, snacks, etc. There are not a huge array of choices from each category, but it all looked good. I looked around for the tea section, thinking I would take home some interesting blend for my morning tweeting, but I either they don't have tea, or I simply didn't find it.

Careme's Market strives to offer "Quality food and all the fun the law allows". While, I agree on the food, I am pretty sure there are some venues that legally boast more fun. All in all, though, it is a great little place and I wish them all the best.

Shop local!

OK, I've been into foursquare since it came to Tampa. I love the idea of checking in and supporting local haunts, getting points and seeing what friends are up to around town. I've also used Yelp for about a year. I've found it useful as a consumer but frustrated as a business owner because the reviews that Bright Eyes keep disappearing. Having zero reviews displayed when I know there are out there, just not linked. Not that Bright Eyes has seen many Foursquare checkins either.

Anyway, I am the black sheep in my family. While they all have Iphones, I have a Crackberry. While foursquare doesn't have a BB app, the mobile site is pretty decent and I am happy enough.  However, I've just read that for Iphone users, Yelp now lets you check in fourquare-style. I downloaded the BB Yelp app, but you can't check in anywhere yet.

But despite all my interest, neither Yelp or foursquare has caught on in any serious way in Tampa Bay, at least as far as I can tell. Neither site seams to generate a lot of local discussion, even on the Yelp local talk page. Maybe my expectations of Tampa folks (Tampons) are just unrealistically high. I see a lot of technophillic folks who I would expected would jump all over this, especially near USF. I would think this would geotagging social networking would be hot right now. But it just doesn't seem to be so.

So... What do you think?  Are you a fan Yelp or foursquare? Which one and why?  Which do you see as benefiting Tampa Bay the most?

I'd love to see what the local Twitteratti think!

-Nate