Lost Lookout, my new website
Just before Christmas in 2010 I was on the bus to work. As I was hopping off I saw something lying on the floor. A Phoenix Season Pass.
“Awesome!” I thought. But then the good ole morals kicked in, and I knew I had to return it. But how? All I had was a credit card sized piece of plastic with a name and some barcodes on it.
I turned to Twitter and Facebook. I tweeted that I’d found a season pass, and got a few retweets out of it. But no one knew the owner. I did the same on Facebook, again with no luck.
Surely there’s an easier way to reunite lost items we find with their owners?
Popular Lost and Found websites at the moment are pretty much exclusively for pets. And they’re just huge lists. Ew.
It should be easy to have lost stuff reunited with their owners.
So I hatched an idea. For most of this summer in my spare time I worked on it. Now it’s ready.
*drumroll* *cymbal crash!*
Lost Lookout has arrived!
*applause*
Lost Lookout is the answer for everyone who has lost something or found something and not known what to do. It’s pretty simple. It’s a map. With lost and found stuff on it. That’s it.
The beauty of this is when you lose something and put it on the Lost Lookout map, other web users are able to say “Oh hey, I’m walking past there on my way to work. I’ll keep an eye out for it.” By putting it on Lost Lookout you increase your chances of getting it found.
If you find something, it’s the same deal. Put it on the Lost Lookout map. The owner will hopefully know where they lost something. At least approximately. They will turn to Lost Lookout and see if it has been found yet.
Somewhat ironically the first listing is the jacket I lost last week at uni.
“But wait,” I hear you say, “There’s hardly anyone using that site yet anyway! No one will find you jacket!” Good Point.
Delivering Value to the First Customer
I knew starting out that every customer (user of Lost Lookout) will be playing a waiting game. Humans don’t like waiting. It’s lame.
Lost Lookout has a special time saving feature to help you be proactive. As well as easily tweet/facebook-able listings, Lost Lookout provides the Ready Made Poster feature.
Once you’ve put the item on Lost Lookout you automatically have access to a printable flyer with a photo, map and detachable contact slips. Easy peasy! No need to fire up bloated Word processing programs.
From the moment you start using Lost Lookout, your life is easier.
Where to now?
I’ll actively develop the website and might even add new features if it is in keeping with its simplicity. I think the website could be simplified even further to be honest.
But the main thing will be receiving feedback from customers. That’s you!
Head on over to Lost Lookout, have a play around, (report bugs), but most importantly: keep an eye out for lost stuff near you
