Why did we initiate the platform roadbeat.com?

The critical size and openness of communities which used to be the key to success have now become a problem due to their growing popularity. Formerly comprehensible communities of like-minded people have turned into mega networks with only a small common denominator. For example, 70% of the MySpace users complain that the community has grown too big.
The value of relationships within a community decreases when it grows too big, the "noise" (Internet lingo for messages in forums or newsgroups with low information content) becomes too loud, and the relationships turn too arbitrary. Specialized social networks frequently are able to offer a higher value of benefit.
-> roadbeat.com wants to remain special.

The renowned "Cluetrain Manifesto", states that "markets are conversations" - the communication between the company and its customers is decisive. Companies are dealing with more and more customers who are networked via the Internet and should make use of the opportunities this fact offers. This includes becoming engaged in conversations with customers, allowing transparency, admitting mistakes and correcting them, and generally becoming more personal concerning communication.
In return most customers will be willing to reveal more information about themselves if they keep control of them and trust the respective company. Major corporations, who sometimes act as "data hunters" and are observed as such, are frequently viewed with less sympathy than smaller companies or startups.
-> roadbeat.com and the niche-providers listed there would like to enter a dialog with the users. We are looking forward to your feedback and encourage everyone to express criticism and suggestions freely because this will influence the further development of this platform strongly.

Many innovations such as ad blockers, digital video recorders and on-demand-media increasingly enable the consumers to avoid advertising. On the other hand they are gaining an audible voice through rating platforms, forums and blogs, as well as a more distinct market transparency. All of this contributes to the fact that the balance of power between companies and customers is shifting in favor of the customer. However, companies can also benefit from these changes if they actually give their customers more influence, e.g. by including them in the development of products.
-> roadbeat.com focuses on the feedback of its users. The further development of the platform depends on the wishes and needs of its users.

The Internet offers an abundance of information which is hardly of any use without filter mechanisms. To extricate valuable data from the flood of information we can rely on help from others and help ourselves, e.g. by tagging content, blogging and linking as experts on relevant topics, leaving feedback, using social book marking services, using search engines, and clicking on relevant links which will in turn be reflected in the order of search results.
-> roadbeat.com offers efficient networking, a multitude of handy tools, as well as tips from those you're the most likely to trust - people from your own network.

Digital technologies make it easier for all to create content themselves and distribute it: digital photography, blogging, participation in online social networks allow more and more people to share their creativity with others.
-> roadbeat.com enjoys supporting your creative energies and provides a platform for them. Especially when travelling, people can benefit from the inspiration and leisure to record new impressions in written form, as pictures, or audio.

People have always wanted to create and distribute records of their own lives. There are a lot of things which people didn't experience alone but rather together with others and would like to share and revive these memories with others. Instead of slideshow evenings with friends or looking at photo albums together, increasingly digital content as well as spacial or temporal separation lead to the use of Internet platforms as ideal places for interaction.
-> roadbeat.com allows you to revive and share your mutual travel experiences with others. However, we take care that you can control exactly which information will be visible to who at all times.

Instead of planning mutual activities way in advance many of us cruise the city during weekends and plan the next meeting points and activities per mobile phone along the way. This kind of spontaneity is possible because of mobile phones, favorable rates and - soon - location based services (see below).
As soon as data or Internet flat rates are available on mobile terminals Internet-based services will also experience this boom and allow further opportunities for spontaneous meetings and research.
-> roadbeat.com will offer a version for mobile terminals as soon as the mobile use of the Internet has become more common with travellers. The software architecture is already designed to make this possible.

Location based services are offers for users of mobile phones depending on their position. Based on mobile phones with integrated GPS (like the Nokia N95) services such as route planners, Where Am I, Where Are My Friends, Interesting Places Nearby, Points Of Interest (POI, e.g. restaurants) can be available.
-> roadbeat.com will offer a version for mobile terminals as soon as the mobile use of the Internet has become more common with travellers. The software architecture is already designed to make this possible.

More and more consumers earn additional money with small-size enterprises - as freelancers, in part-time jobs, at weekends, by renting, as senior citizens, as mothers, on the Web, on Ebay, as advertising-financed blogger, etc.
-> roadbeat.com would like to be the important contact point for minipreneurs & the long tail in the travel business and this way offer a real surplus value to its users.