Eating is required. Drinking too, required. Everything in-between those two broad statements regarding food and drink is where you find Chowhound. Chowhound is a social media application that connects people around the world to a public conversation about a common interest and often a common problem, that is the who, what, where of nourishment.
Chowhound is simultaneously a foodie's podium, a new restaurant's successful opening, a wine connoisseurs' InTouch magazine, a traveler's hope in hell and a learning cook's easy answer. Chowhound is an easy-to-follow, free with registration (also easy) service broad enough that it could tell you what restaurants to avoid in Nairobi, if you needed. The site's format is easy to follow and isn't overwhelmed with semi-relevant photos that are often distracting. Catchy headlines like, The Juice, work great to catch the 'question attention' of visitors probing them further into the site.
Chowhound has an up-to-date blog portion so users can keep up-to-date with their online foodie compadres and international food media. Most visible on the site is a consistent thread of comment conservation organized by "Boards" in a geographical area that subsists itself with a steady flow of interested users. If you're not already convinced that Chowhound is worth your attention, maybe a visual, numerical breakdown of Chowhound's popularity might help. The site Crunchbase, another easy-to-use social media application, is comparable to Wikipedia except that it focuses on evaluating tech companies, people and investors. Crunchbase is free and unofficial and provides graphical breakdown on the flow of use for websites to help gauge popularity. Chowhound does itself well as reflected on this Crunchbase.
Chowhound is owned by CBS as of 2010 and runs out of San Fransisco. It has a production staff of just under 30 and even includes a contact for public relations! This site is the real deal and validates itself by selling out to a well-known and trusted media outlet, CBS.
On the foodstuff spectrum, Chowhound content is broad and involves great marketing and public relation opportunities for restaurants and food companies alike. For example, that bakery wagon on the corner of What and Where is the only place that offers fresh that great cookie you had once in Venezuela and now you know and so do many via Chowhound. Or, the argument surrounding the best wings in Whoville rages on and now you've gotta try them all so you can decide for yourself; a restaurant's free advertising dream!You don't need to be a food or drink expert or even relatively interested in foodstuff to learn something from Chowhound. Everyone has had a first date to impress with the perfect dining experience, or the uncle who surprises the visit every time with a bizarre must-have like Argentinian shortbread or, the beloved wine snob father who you can never keep with on the pairing part and finally, that lactose intolerant, gluten-free, organic, vegetarian friend who insists that you choose her birthday dinner spot. Chowhound proves itself to cover it all, a true foodfilling experience!
For some supporting evidence that Chowhound is noteworthy social application, please confirm with Debbie Waines and Michael Thomson.
Keep up to date on my musings by following me on Twitter @amphrotrite
and while there, follow the ever-changing posts of #humberpr.
No comments:
Post a Comment