Montreal Curated solves many problems shared by Montrealers. With our word cloud indexer for  Google+, users can keep track of trending events and activities, and connect with each other, share, or propose a Hangout.

Example of use cases:

• Discover what’s hot in Montreal for your next blog article.
• Find a popular local jazz bar to visit tonight.
• Set a warning in your neighborhood for a fire or crime.

DEMO

We index typical entries coming from the universe of Google activities.

Once you hover over the trending events, the Google activity generating the entry will be displayed (partially).

Our current implementation ranks the entries based on occurrences, naively.

UPCOMING FEATURES

1. Google Hangout Generator

Next version will add a link from the entry to start a Google Hangout session so that users can discuss the entry.

If a Google Hangout exists on that entry, it will be displayed here.

2. Similarly Geo-Located Entries

Once you click on an entry, or search, show relevant entries that are close in proximity.

3. Google Map Integration

Distribute the word cloud on a Google map, and show related activities and comments. We had planned on implementing this feature in our prototype, but there was currently not enough geo-location data for Montreal activities to do so.

4. Ranking Algorithm

Improved relevancy by ranking using a clever blend of count and +1.

5. RSS Feed

Users can subscribe to a feed of trending keywords in a neighborhood.

USER ACQUISITION STRATEGY

We’re focused on creating viral content à la OkTrends to attract users. Here’s an example blog post using our data: Montreal Curated Settles The Bagel Wars.

Since we’re tracking trends happening in Montreal in real time, we’ll have compelling, high value insights to share about the city. This will let us connect with bloggers and journalists who cover local news,  leading to press mentions.

REVENUE MODEL

Ads, ads, ads! We’ll provide exceptionally high value traffic to Adwords buyers because ads shown will be associated to trending keywords. And the beauty of this is that people like to follow trends. It’s the herd effect.

I decided to use Montreal Curated data to settle the question once and for all, “Which bagels are the most popular: St-Viateur or Fairmount?”

And sure enough, people mention Montreal bagels on Google+ a lot. Especially Googlers.

WHICH ONE IS MOST POPULAR?

Montreal Curated pulls data from Google+, and ranks them in order of popularity so that you can see which words are mentioned most often.

Here’s what we found:

And here’s what the result looks like on Montreal Curated:

As you can see, we had a clear winner— St-Viateur Bagels. People called them “world’s best”, “awesome” and “classic”.

And although Jason from shutupandeat would disagree with these findings — he’s a Fairmount fan— they both really are DELICIOUS and way better than anything outside of Montreal!

SEARCHING ON MONTREAL CURATED

With our upcoming search function, you’ll be able to search for keywords like “bagels” and instantly see which related word is bigger, St-Viateur or Fairmount. Stay tuned for this killer feature that we’ll be rolling out shortly.

SWING DANCING

Here’s a snapshot from Saturday, February 25, 2012.

On that day, many events were happening in the city because of the Nuit Blanche / Montreal Highlights festival.

One of the trending words was “Swing” for swing dancing, and by digging deeper, we see that there was a huge Swing event happening at City Hall that night.

By visiting Montreal Curated, you can easily discover new trendy events and keep up with what’s hot to do in the city.

KEEPING WATCH OF YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

Montreal Curated has many uses, and one of them is detecting trending news, like a fire or force of nature. Since Google+ activities may contain a geo-location signature, this news can be associated with coordinates on Google Maps.

In an upcoming release, you’ll be able to subscribe to an RSS feed of your neighborhood. By entering your location, you’ll get notified by trending words that are close to you so that you can keep on top of what’s happening in real time in your neighborhood.