PRESS RELEASE 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Bo BennettE-mail: pr@igroops.com
Tel: 978.461.5917

 ONLINE "IGROOP" LAUNCHED FOR SUDBURY RESIDENTS 

SUDBURY, MASSACHUSETTS, April 24, 2007 – Sudbury resident Kim Bennett is launching the Sudbury iGrOOp (http://sudbury.igroops.com) this month as a way to help residents communicate, collaborate, and share information and media online. Through the online "groop", Bennett offers residents the opportunity to connect utilizing increasingly popular Web 2.0 technology, including message forums, voice chat, blogging, audio, video and photo sharing, an online calendar and more.

Although the Town of Sudbury already offers an excellent web site, Bennett sees the Sudbury iGrOOp as filling a real need. The town web site focuses on official town business, and does not include information about other businesses and events sponsored by private organizations and individuals. The official town web site remains fairly objective, and the communication flows one way-- from Town Hall to the residents. The limitations of the official town web site, which Bennett concedes are understandable and appropriate, are among the very strengths of the Sudbury iGrOOp.

The Sudbury iGrOOp allows members to communicate about any events taking place in town, whether town-sponsored or not. Members can announce an upcoming tent sale at a local business, a neighborhood yard sale, or a bake sale at a local church. The Sudbury iGrOOp provides a message forum where members can discuss topics such as issues on the upcoming PTO or Town Meeting agenda. Bennett hopes the Sudbury iGrOOp will help residents get to know each other, develop a more informed, well-rounded perspective, and a true picture of what's going on in the town, through the eyes of its residents. Members also have the ability to publish their own web page.

 The iGrOOps platform that Bennett uses is the creation of her husband, Bo Bennett, a veteran computer programmer and entrepreneur, and the founder of iGrOOps LLC. (http://www.igroops.com) He started the company from the couple's Sudbury home. Although online technology may hold more appeal to a younger crowd, she believes the Sudbury iGrOOp combines powerful technology with simplicity, so that even those who are not particularly web-savvy can participate and benefit. 

"When I took the time to go online and immerse myself in what my husband had been creating, I started to really see the potential iGrOOps could have for our town. I thought it would be fun to connect online with friends, neighbors and fellow residents as a way to share information about things that affect us. The more I started to work on setting up the group, and the more I talked to others about it, the more excited I became," said Bennett. She began by condensing the school calendars into the Sudbury iGrOOp calendar, and creating a business directory. She also began rating and reviewing local businesses, contractors, and restaurants. The Sudbury iGrOOp provides an application for reviews, where members can add businesses, rate them from one to five stars, and include written comments. The overall rating for any business or item changes whenever a member adds their review.

"Having lived in Sudbury for 10 years, I still refer to friends for recommendations for service contractors. Just last week, I needed a carpet cleaner in an emergency. It would have been great if I could have asked the whole town," shares Bennett. "I started to think about the power of pooling the collective knowledge of my neighbors across town. Before calling an electrician or a plumber, wouldn't it be great to know if someone across town had either an excellent experience, or felt ripped off?"

Besides the more practical applications, Bennett has also been enjoying the social aspects of the Sudbury iGrOOp. Although she has been using the Internet since the early 1990s, the ease of the Sudbury iGrOOp nudged her to make her first foray into the world of "blogging". A blog is like an online journal or diary, done with text, video, audio or a combination. The mother of two young children, Bennett enjoys blogging about family life, as well as offering her take on pop culture and current events. An avid film fan, she has also created a section called "Kim's Monthly Movie Picks". Until recently, Bennett has been inviting friends and neighbors that she knows personally to join the Sudbury iGrOOp. Now she has opened the Sudbury iGrOOp to all Sudbury residents. As a way to build an active online community, she is offering free one-year memberships to the first 100 residents who join. The standard annual membership fee is $29.

While the Sudbury iGrOOp is a new concept, Kim Bennett remains hopeful that membership will grow quickly. "The Sudbury iGrOOp can be a fun and empowering tool for us as residents," says Bennett. "I would love to see residents using the discussion forum, and holding live real-time web chats to debate town issues. I'd love to see residents start their own blogs, and upload video clips from the high school play, and photos from events around town. I see this as a real way to get to know each other, stay informed, and build community." 

For more information about the Sudbury iGrOOp, please visit http://sudbury.igroops.com or contact Kim Bennett at kim@archieboy.com. For more information about iGrOOps LLC, please e-mail pr@igroops.com or call 978.461.5917.

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