Upcoming.org
Encyclopedia
Upcoming is a social event calendar website that launched in 2003, founded by Andy Baio
. On October 4, 2005, Upcoming.org was acquired by Yahoo!
.
The site switched to the Yahoo! user accounts system in early 2007, and changed its domain name to upcoming.yahoo.com. At the same time, the site formally changed its name from "Upcoming.org" to simply "Upcoming". Despite this, many users of the site still link to and refer to the site as "Upcoming.org".
Upcoming uses iCalendar
, RSS
, and GeoRSS
for content syndication and supports an open API
for searching or submitting event data. It also uses hCalendar microformats
, so that events can be downloaded directly into calendar applications. Finally, users can also post badges on their own websites, powered by Javascript, which list all their Upcoming events.
, has emerged since Upcoming was launched in 2003. Some of the music sites later branched out into this space, such as last.fm
and iLike
, building on their knowledge of their users' tastes. Facebook
's event system is very much like a simplified version of Upcoming's, although it is more typically used for informal or private get-togethers.
Andy Baio (blogger)
Andy Baio is an American technologist and blogger. He is the founder of Upcoming.org, a former CTO of Kickstarter.com, and author of the Waxy.org blog.- Internet Entrepreneur :...
. On October 4, 2005, Upcoming.org was acquired by Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
.
Features
Upcoming combines features of an event calendar and a social networking site. Primarily, the site is a searchable, browsable repository of upcoming events, such as music concerts, art exhibits, business conferences, and so on. Event information can be contributed by the user community, although an increasing percentage of event data now comes from commercial sources. Users can indicate their plans by marking that they are "going" to or "interested" in an event. Users may also establish "friend" relationships with each other and receive notifications about what their friends are planning. Upcoming also offers users reminders via email or SMS when a particular event is about to occur.The site switched to the Yahoo! user accounts system in early 2007, and changed its domain name to upcoming.yahoo.com. At the same time, the site formally changed its name from "Upcoming.org" to simply "Upcoming". Despite this, many users of the site still link to and refer to the site as "Upcoming.org".
Upcoming uses iCalendar
ICalendar
iCalendar is a computer file format which allows Internet users to send meeting requests and tasks to other Internet users, via email, or sharing files with an extension of .ics...
, RSS
RSS
-Mathematics:* Root-sum-square, the square root of the sum of the squares of the elements of a data set* Residual sum of squares in statistics-Technology:* RSS , "Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary", a family of web feed formats...
, and GeoRSS
GeoRSS
GeoRSS is an emerging standard for encoding location as part of a Web feed. GeoRSS is an emerging standard for encoding location as part of a Web feed. GeoRSS is an emerging standard for encoding location as part of a Web feed. (Web feeds are used to describe feeds ("channels") of content, such as...
for content syndication and supports an open API
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
for searching or submitting event data. It also uses hCalendar microformats
HCalendar
hCalendar is a microformat standard for displaying a semantic HTML representation of iCalendar-format calendar information about an event, on web pages, using HTML classes and rel attributes....
, so that events can be downloaded directly into calendar applications. Finally, users can also post badges on their own websites, powered by Javascript, which list all their Upcoming events.
Community
As of 2008, the overwhelming majority of users and events are located in North America, particularly among fans of independent music, web technologists, or the San Francisco Bay Area generally. However, Upcoming users can be found almost anywhere on the globe, often submitting event data in their local language. Upcoming is fully capable of storing and searching multilingual content, although the site supports only a US-English interface.Competitors and Influence
At least one competitor, known as EventfulEventful
Eventful is a web service which aims to help users search for, track, and share information about events. Eventful is a service of Eventful, Inc. from San Diego, California...
, has emerged since Upcoming was launched in 2003. Some of the music sites later branched out into this space, such as last.fm
Last.fm
Last.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed 30 million active users in March 2009. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for UK£140m ....
and iLike
ILike
iLike is an online service that allows users to download and share music. The website makes use of a sidebar that is used with Apple's iTunes or Microsoft's Windows Media Player. The program and sidebar are not required in order to use the site but allow for ease in discovering new artists....
, building on their knowledge of their users' tastes. Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
's event system is very much like a simplified version of Upcoming's, although it is more typically used for informal or private get-togethers.