In the early months of 2006, a couple guys from the Oregon District in Dayton, OH put together a plan to bring the visitors, residents, and businesses of the District together over the Internet. Thanks to the support of the Oregon District Business Association, the site has officially launched and is available for your viewing pleasure at the following address:
www.OregonDistrict.com
While hopping from social network to network over the past few years, many of us have realized that the idea of a real "community" has failed to appear on the Internet. The rise in popularity of blogging has lead our "virtual communities" to include photographs, podcasts, and most recently videos. While sharing our world has become the norm, making "real world" connections still eludes us.
Thus, the idea for the OregonDistrict.com was born -- a community network that is free for all to register and represent yourself in the OD. Create a profile for your friends; another for your family. We don't limit you to just a single profile, and offer a variety of profile types for individuals, businesses, organizations, or personal communities.
Just imagine being able to find the current happenings through tools that are easy enough for businesses to keep up to date. Connect to your favorite places, leave a good word in their comments, or send messages directly to the businesses to request something specific. You might even be lucky enough to get a special deal for simply being their friend!
Apart from lacking the network lag from other social websites, the OregonDistrict.com features other cool qualities such as integrating your RSS feeds. While it sounds geeky, it allows you to add you Flickr photos, YouTube videos, along with podcasts, blogs, and other popular services.
Beyond the usual capabilities of social networks, the OregonDistrict.com also gives you a bird's eye view of all the Interets from the local area. This allows visitors to find the best place to get a cup of coffee, as well as residents the good fortune to find other fans of sports teams or political ideals within the neighborhood.
How can you help?
By telling everyone you know about the OregonDistrict.com website. We need everyone to get involved, from the residents to the businesses to everyone waiting in line for the post office on tax day. Tell your friends to tell their friends. Put together a flyer to help spread the word. Give us free advertising. Interview us for your paper.
We're working on something amazing, and could use your help. (Especially if you know anything about PHP.)
