A family gathers in the family room in front of a large flat screen. It is not connected to cable or satellite TV; it is just one of many computers on the family's wireless network. Perhaps a media server is connected to a content source such as Comcast or XM radio, but perhaps not.
It's Saturday evening around 7. The family finishes watching an episode of How I Met Your Mother from 2010, and now they're thinking about dinner. Pizza sounds good, so they open a browser and navigate to their community news site. The latest hyper-local headlines are available in the sidebar, but their focus now is on food.
The site manages the family's connection to their neighbors, remembering the stories they've shared (such as the photo essay they posted on their Yucatan vacation), the comments they have posted on issues and articles (just as Amazon records your product comments). So, naturally, the site knows this family's favorite pizza place.
The hungriest--the eldest son perhaps--uses the remote to land on the Pizza Place's community page and gets a personalized welcome back along with a special offer--3 pizza's for the price of 2, tonight only. Sibling rivalry appears and an argument ensues. We always go to Pizza Place. Where else could they go for pizza? The community site knows them all, knows which are open right now, and can even apply predetermined rules so the restaurants effectively "bid" for the family's business.
They settle on Salvatore's, where they've never dined before. They have a good introductory offer, and the YouTube video highlighting Salvatore and his pizza philosophy was compelling. To order, they click to a page that looks like a menu, but is also an order form. They'll pick it up. Salvatore's knows who is ordering, because the family is logged in to their community site.
Tomorrow, by e-mail, whoever ordered will receive a request to rate the experience (just as Amazon does today). Returning to Salvatore's page earns points either on the community system or just at Salvatore's.
Dad rates Salvatore's and checks the box that allows Salvatore's brag that they have one more happy local customer. He clicks through to the home page and sees that the beloved former mayor has passed. The service will be next week. Dad clicks that he will attend, adding his name to the event page, then pauses to offer his condolences on the guest book.
Dad's reaction to the event could be kept private, but he chooses to make his appreciation of the former mayor known to his neighbors. Random readers who are not members of the community site can visit and see the news and the business pages, but cannot see the messages or rsvps that members post for their neighbors' benefit.
While he's there, Dad remembers he wanted to research the word of mouth about an insurance broker in town. Every insurance broker is listed; most have nice encomiums on their pages. Dad posts a general query to his neighbors for their advice. Members comment on the query like they do on an article or an event or a business. Twenty-four hours later, there are 20 responses, including several from insurance brokers themselves.
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