Another major milestone for yellO was it’s magazine which had been in the making for almost 2 years and with our Government’s permission in place to finally publish, we launched our first issue in February 2011.

The magazine which is a reflection of the website contains blogs, user comments, reviews, business listings and classified ads. The Content section is further divided into Spotlight, where we focus on a business or person, which is doing good for the society. Finally there’s a Celebrity Q&A section, which features a celebrity interview and events section.

However, my most favourite part is the yellO Map associated with the business listings. Its like a game; you find a business you like, check the coordinates given with it and then find those coordinates on the map to know exactly where that business is situated in that area. The business listings contain the business address and phone number.

Although, after distributing 10,000 copies in Phase 1, 2, 4, 5 and 7 of DHA, we can safely say that the FREE classifieds are the highlight of the magazine. It has never been done before that anyone lets you post classified ads in their magazine for free of charge, but yellO does it.

Here’s something a fan said about the magazine on yellO’s facebook page

Kanwal Tariq: i got a copy too n i keep it on my bedside 4 quick reference. Thanx. Looking 4wd 4 march’s issue ♥

And just in case you didn’t get our first issue, you can read it online.

yellO is about to cross a milestone today with its magazine launch just around the corner. Along with the magazine several major changes are coming on the website as well.

For starters, we have made the website very light on the eyes, removed all the heavy images and bright colours and just made the website very clean as you would see on our “Home” page. The only colour and design are in the search bar here. While each of the interior pages like “Events”, “Business” and “Classifieds” are themed on colour basis like Events is red and Blogs are green etc.

This neat and clean look is also a result of removing the overwhelming map from the page so that the focus remains on the content. The map has been moved at the bottom of each page as a sticky bar which moves along the page as you scroll up or down.

We always felt that our users found the map very complicated to use and therefore we have build up a functionality where you can just type the location/restaurant/business you want to search and the pointer will point you to that place directly.

Simply say where you want to reach and click “GO”. The map will zoom to that location and place the pointer for you.

These are all the UI changes that have been brought this time. The major functionality that has been integrated in to the website is the SMS functionality. As our magazine is an extension of the website, it contains several links and codes that help communicate with the website.

There is a code with each event, through which a reminder can be set for one day and also for one hour before the event. All the user has to do is send a “reminder E22222″ to 9355.

Same is the case for classified ads. One can buy and sell things without giving out their identity or phone number. The code can be SMSed to 9355 with an offer. If the seller accepts, only then the contact details are exchanged.

The magazine is going for print today inshallah and our website has gone live too today, and we are hoping for a positive response from our users as we have tried our best to make the site even more user-friendly.

The functionality of “Popular blogs” on the blogs page may seem pretty simple on the face, but a peek inside would reveal what an extensive algorithm is put in place to make the most popular blogs more visible.

Making a blog show up in the “Popular Blogs” category requires a balanced weight-age of “likes”, “reads” and “comments”. The right balance of the three factors was required to make that particular blog a popular one. However, initially our algorithm was for overall blogs, i.e. most popular blogs of all time. The only problem with this kind of system was that recently popular blogs were not highlighted.

Well not anymore! Now our popular blogs will show your blogs which have been most liked and commented upon during a week. This will give more visibility to you and your blogs as well as let you know what others are recently reading or are interested in.

You will soon notice that yellO looks different. We’ve added two cool features: “News Feed” and “My Activity” which appear in each person’s profile on “My yellO” tab. Around the start of this year, we introduced a real-time feed or “Recent Activity” on the home page so you could see everything Yellers were sharing as soon as they shared it. Now, the recent activity has been taken a step further and turned in to News Feed.

At yellO, one of our main priorities is helping you stay on top of what is going on in your city with the people and things you care about most. That’s why today we are beginning to roll out some changes to the My yellO page that simplify your experience by offering two views of News Feed: a Friend’s Feed to get news only about your friends and City Feed for over all happenings of your selected city.

Friends’ Feed would highlight what’s happening in your local social circle on yellO. It will update you, so you’ll know what Farhan thinks about Pizza Next that he has reviewed recently or when Sharmeen adds an event she is interested in or writes a blog and even when Taimur is selling his laptop and has added it as a classified. Now, whenever you log in, you’ll get the latest headlines generated by the activity of your friends. The status set by your friends will also be visible here.

City Feed on the other hand will have information about everyone’s activity on yellO, including your friends and other Yellers.  This will let you know which event other Yellers in your city are heading to, which restaurants they are visiting and what are they trying to buy or sell. You will also get updates about businesses you are following and feed about great deals by our premium partners.

My Activity is similar, except that it centers around one person. Each person’s “My Activity” shows what has changed recently in their profile and what content (blogs, events, business reviews etc) they’ve added. Check out your own activity in the My yellO – My Activity tab and set your status how you like the change.

Like you, we know it can be disruptive when things are moved around, but we hope that these changes make yellO a more valuable experience for you. We put a lot of thought into all the changes we make to the site and do a lot of testing before releasing anything. So please take some time to play around with this new design, and give us your feedback.

Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day. The aim of this day is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion around an important issue that impacts us all.

This year, with the theme of Water, people at Change.org are eager to shed light on this often-overlooked topic.

The issue of Water has been chosen as it is a global issue, deserving a global conversation. Right now, almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water. That’s one in seven of us.

In order to participate, all you need to do is register your yellO blog and write a single post on your blog about the issue of water on October 15th. You can register here.

The register form will ask you for your blog URL, it is http://yello.pk/user/your-name/userid, for example http://yello.pk/user/saba-kamran/480.

* Don’t know your yellO blog URL? See here.

If you’re not sure what to write about, don’t worry – they have a great list of suggestions for possible topics.

We hope you’ll think about joining us for this event. Create your blog post now.

As of this morning, 10,257 people all over Pakistan are actively using yellO.pk to stay connected with their friends and the people around them. Need I not mention that the traffic on yellO is already of 40,000 people of those 10,000 are registered Yellers.

This is an important milestone for all of you who have helped spread yellO and helped it reach where it is today. Now a lot more people have the opportunity to stay connected with the people they care about, what they are saying and find out what’s going on around them.

yellO reached 10 thousand users 2 weeks ago and since then almost 300 more people have joined it. If yellO keeps growing exponentially then it wouldn’t be a surprise if it reaches 20,000 by the start of next year Inshallah.

Since its inception in March 2009, yellO has grown, both as a social network/community and as a team. We started with just two people in the yellO team and now it has more than 10 people working to make it better. We have covered all of Karachi in terms of entering businesses in the yellO database and have moved on to Lahore to add more business listings for you to review.

For all iphone users, our mobile apps developers made an awesome iyellO app which makes exploring your city  all the more fun and easy while you’re on the move. There’s good news for all Android and Blackberry users too, your cool apps are on their way as well. Furthermore, the yellO Magazine is on its last stages of legal formalities, once those are sorted out, we’ll be all set to get yellO in print too.

Anyway, all those who’ve been with yellO since the beginning, believed in its concept and wanted its success and those who have joined it recently and are enthusiastic about it, I want to thank you all once again for being part of making yellO.pk what it is today. Hope to see most of you at the yellO Meet-up on 8th Aug.

The summer months are already upon us and it’s hard to believe June is almost over. Some of you have already left for your tours but I’m sure many of you are still making plans to go up-north.

It does not matter whether you are exploring a new city in Pakistan or going back to your hometown where you haven’t been in quite a while, one of the most essential item that you shouldn’t forget to pack is yellO.pk. If its a developed city like Lahore, Islamabad or Karachi that you are going to, internet will not be a problem but if you have an iphone with the iyello app, you are in for some great fun.

Heading off to Margalla hills from Karachi and having a stopover in Lahore and Islamabad for a couple of days? yellO.pk will help you navigate hotel/motels and restaurants to make your stay as comfortable as possible. Through yellO you can look for shopping areas, amusement arcades, beauty salon and even chemists (hopefully not) etc so that these cities are not just stopovers for you but part of your vacation.

And let’s not forget the importance of food during holiday. Part of summer vacations is to try out different cuisines and delicacies. yellO.pk gives you ideas for restaurants that are nearby as well as what people think about them.

However, if you are planning a staycation, that is staying where you are and not planning to go anywhere, then you definitely need to find out what’s happening here so that your kids don’t drive you crazy. yellO.pk has all the updated events: Melas, festivals, theatre plays, concerts and summer camps too. But if you are planning a vacation and aren’t able to decide where to go, check out some options for travel agents and they’ll work something out for you.

Happy holidays with yellO.pk guys!

PS: Don’t forget to share on our Facebook fan-page how else you can use yellO during your vacation.

yellO.pk is a social networking website with content which is user generated. We often felt that our users and their content are not highlighted properly. Therefore, the basic theme of this yellO update was to give more visibility to our users.

City selection feature incorporated

yellO has always been about discovering your city and to start that journey of discovery, you need to know exactly where you are. With yellO’s new city selection feature, you will be able to search for information more relevant to you, for instance a recently opened business in your neighbourhood, or an event happening in your city. No more searching the classifieds for your perfect home, only to find that it is in Lahore.

Blog Categories

Initially, it was quite difficult to find blogs of ones interest on the blogs page. Therefore, we have refined the page in terms of categories now. This would mean that you don’t have to go through all the blogs before you find something of your interest; you can simply go to the category of your choice.

Like Thumb in Blogs

Many of us don’t want to comment on a blog we find interesting and for those the “like” button was essential. The thumbs-up button gives the user a chance to show their liking of a blog if they don’t want to comment on it.

Fresh comments

This new feature of “Fresh Comments” also gives visibility to the users. All the recent comments by readers would be shown here and if you find any comment interesting enough and are curious as to what the blog was about, you can directly go to the blog from here.

Spotlight Yeller

Every one likes to be recognized, so in order to appreciate them, we will make one of our most active Yellers a “Spotlight Yeller” for a specific period of time. If you are impressed with him/her, you can even visit this person’s profile and send a request to be friends with him/her.

Popular blogs

Popular blogs would be selected automatically on the basis of the reads they have got. This feature will hopefully inspire many of you to not only write more interesting blogs but also share the link on other platforms so your blog is read more.

Featured Yellers

Featured Yellers are chosen few who we admire for the kind of content they post on yellO. Any one can become the featured Yeller if he/she posts interesting blogs and reviews on the website.

More reviews visible

Showing more reviews written by the users is another change that we have made in the recent update. Our two most popular categories where the most reviews are written are “Shopping” which includes boutiques and apparel brands and “Restaurants”. All the recent reviews in these categories as well as any other fresh reviews near you will be showing up on the “business & reviews” page. We have also integrated a column for Popular businesses. These businesses would be chosen on the basis of reads they have as well as the number stars they have got.

Similar Businesses also shown

If you are looking for a fast food restaurant, then with this new feature by yellO, you will also be able to check out some other similar businesses. For instance, on the OPTP page above, we can find A-ONE snacks, Mash n Burgers, Mc Donalds and Red apple as pages similar. This gives you the ability to make a more informed decision about where to go for fast food.

Top Reviewers

Top reviewers, as the name suggests, is about who has written the most reviews. Top reviewers list would not only let you check out reviewer’s profile so that may follow him/her to get notifications about when he/she writes a new review but also read the latest review they have written.

Hot in the City

Hot in the city will give you news update about your city; which new restaurant opened up, which closed down, who is having a clearance sale and what is the newest item on the menu of La more etc.

yellO.pk is always trying to mobilize its community and channelize energy of the youth toward the right path, and therefore it organized an event, A Day by the Bay, for all its members and friends on 25th April, 2010. It was the first time yellO was organizing an event on this scale. It has visited several universities in the past but this was the first time that people from all over Karachi were given a chance to come and meet each other.

This event was not only designed to bring the community closer to each other but also to show people that there are still some healthy activities left to do instead of simply going out to eat or hanging out in a cafe’.  An Island near Karachi, that we recently discovered, was where we took our yellers. That Island is a hub for many water sports like Jet Skiing, Paragliding, Speed boating and Tubing etc.

Almost all of the  yellers who attended the event were thrill seekers and adventurous, just like us. And each one of us enjoyed every activity immensely. There were no mishaps or injuries and neither was there any other sour incident that could ruin the day. It was a day full of laughter and gaiety, a day perfect for socializing.

The purpose of this event was only to activate our members to come and interact with each other and with yellO and show them a good time along the way. The tickets were sold at cost as profit was not the motive. yellO plans to make these events a regular thing from now on and will keep coming up with healthy as well as fun activities for all its existing 7000 users on the website and almost 4000 plus fans on Facebook. The elite class of our yellO cardholders would always be treated specially with a discounted price.

Photos for the day by us and our fans: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=207384&id=48104553383

Videos: http://www.facebook.com/video/?oid=48104553383

As I sat down on my favorite sofa to read the Sunday paper (21st March 2010), I picked up the Images section first because I was eagerly waiting for the article on yellO.pk.

The article was very well written by Umair Mohsin where he had reviewed five start-ups by young Pakistanis. He started by giving an overall introduction to the growing trend of start-ups in Pakistan and went on describe each of the five businesses.

He said…

These are some of the young, accomplished and enterprising entrepreneurs in Pakistan who are making their mark in the cyber world in a big way.All too often, young employees find themselves in un-fulfilling jobs with little chance of progress. But with the right advice and motivation, they can strike out on their own and chase their dreams. This has been proven by some of the new worldclass entrepreneurs from our part of the world who are demonstrating
impeccably that it is not the so-called lack of opportunities that hinder the youth, it is only determination and willingness to work for what you want. They hail from all fields and are setting the example for the nation on dreaming big and succeeding with your passion.

It is a sign of the times that the world is rapidly advancing when you look at newsstands selling international magazines and you notice at least one major business magazine has a cover story about a wildly successful entrepreneur in his or her 20s or 30s. Is Pakistan that much far behind, we wondered, or is it that we just haven’t taken these so-called ‘inexperienced’ businessmen seriously enough?

As for yellO.pk, he wrote…

yellO.pk

Just out of Beta mode in September 2009 and already with a user base of 40,000 unique users monthly, Yello.pk is the brainchild of Samir Feroze also known as ‘Chief Yeller’. He describes yellO as a place for you to discover everything you want to know about your city in Pakistan.

The seeds for yellO had been germinating in Feroze’s mind from as far back as 2006. However, it was only in 2008 that he managed to start his research and development on the platform. Starting off with a couple of software engineers, today the team comprises about 40 people and two offices in Karachi and Lahore.

In the limited time, yellO has been active; it has been used to mark collection points around Pakistan for the ‘Swat relief fund’ and highlighted the amazing efforts by ordinary citizens in Pakistan, like the founders of ‘The rozgar scheme’, which gives microcredit to the poorest sections of the population.

Feroze says, “We had always wanted a platform to highlight the amazing things happening around us which often get overlooked. The fact that the information in yellO is user-generated means we get to discover much more through yellO than through traditional media.”

The future is rich and profitable as yellO enters multiple mobile platforms, better web interfaces, a magazine and seamless SMS integration.

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These individuals and companies also motivate us by showing that we can compete successfully in this new business world with people twice our age and companies only God-knows-how-many-times-as big. With the world’s industries and markets in constant shift, there is perhaps no better time to take risks especially when it comes to making choices in the new digital world.
Source: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/in-paper-magazine/sci-tech-world/the-young-and-the-digital-130