StreetAdvisor.com — Is your street Hot or Not?

"Launched in the U.S. this past summer by Australian brothers Jason and Adam Spencer, the mission is to get users to rate the street they live on and comment on it," wrote Sue McAllister of the San Jose Mercury News about this site in a story appearing on SiliconValley.com.

Here's more from the article.

StreetAdvisor.com

At StreetAdvisor, a site launched in the United States this summer by Australian brothers Jason and Adam Spencer, the mission is to get users to rate the street they live on, and provide commentary about it. In three months, 1.5 million streets have been added, Jason Spencer said, but he admitted it's hard to get users to add content as fast as the company would like. Out of every 10 people who sign up for the site, perhaps three write a review straight away, he said.

"They don't want to be the first to interact. People are very cautious about what they put online," he said.

Another surprise for him was that people regularly write about what they dislike about their streets. "I thought a lot more people would rate their street perfectly.... They're being very honest." A site user in New York, for example, recently wrote of his street, "all the big trucks coming into Manhattan early in the morning from Brooklyn use it as a short cut.... From 4 a.m.–6 a.m. it sounds like a heard of elephants."

That brings up the question of how much honesty online real estate sites can take when many depend on income from real estate agents, some of whom might prefer that commentary about particular streets or homes stays positive?

Spencer said StreetAdvisor will remove clearly inappropriate or racist comments, "but if they are talking about the kids down the street having parties at 3 a.m., we don't take that off." Realty agents have not complained, he said.