Hyperlocal Will Gain More Traction in 2007
Last year was exciting on the communications front. From the introduction of many new and useful technology tools (ok, also some where you just wanted to go “huh?”), to talk of whether we’re nearing another bubble, to the social media news release and its variations, to discussions about the value of virtual reality environments, to several online scuffles, to talks of the death of this or that, to the umbrella term “social media” and everything it encompasses… things were moving so fast. And this year looks like it’ll be just as stimulating, with, I hope, lessons learned and a little bit of maturity added in.
One development that gained traction last year and will become even stronger in ‘07 is the development and growth of local information and sites. As Mike Driehorst says in the aptly named post Localize. Localize. Localize., “if newspapers can involve their readers in their revived local focus, newspapers will again become communities’ mainstay for news and information.”
Last November, Fast Company published an excellent article, Hyper-Local Hero, about the approach Rob Curley, now Vice President of Product Development for Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, took in making newspapers and newspaper sites more valuable to their readers. Curley expanded on some points within the article in this blog post, in which he wrote:
“Anyone who has worked with me for even an hour knows how much I *love* huge enterprise stories….
…if you were to ask a roomful of editors or reporters if they would rather work on a huge enterprise series or a big package that gave a nice overview of one of the big events that happen in most people’s lives (such as the prom), my guess is that the majority of those journalists would say they would much rather do the big investigative piece. And that’s not a sin, or even a wrong response as I see it.
But to me, there also is nothing more honorable than documenting the living history of a community and that’s one of the things I strongly feel a local newspaper should do. People turn to their local newspaper for so many reasons, and I don’t think as an industry we should overlook that many of our readers look to us for a sense of community.”
Another development that I’ve been eagerly watching is Placeblogger, which just officially launched. As the site explains,
“Placeblogs are sometimes called ‘hyperlocal sites’ because some of them focus on news events and items that cover a particular neighborhood in great detail — and in particular, places that might be too physically small or sparsely populated to attract much traditional media coverage. Because of this, many people have associated them with the term “citizen journalism,” or journalism done by non-journalists.
Placeblogs, however, are about something broader than news alone. They’re about the lived experience of a place. That experience may be news, or it may simply be about that part of our lives that isn’t news but creates the texture of our daily lives…”
What’s exciting is that the site lists not only blogs from within the United States (although that’s the largest group to date), but also ones from around the world. Check out what others are saying. And if you’re curious what the Top Ten Placeblogs in America are, have a look here.
Tags: Mike Driehorst , Fast Company, Rob Curley, Placeblogger
Wow Andrea, what a post to start 2007 with. What’s wrong with a plain happy new year?
Anyway: the best for 2007!
Oh, just one thing: I agree that local information sites (and other local or regional media) will probably become ever more important. I am, however, not sure if I am thrilled about that. Over the past years, we have gathered the opportunities (technology- and otherwise) to learn an incredible lot about the world. What most people seem to do more and more, however, is just look at what’s happening in their own neighbourhood. Does this mean we should disregard our closest neighbours? Of course not. But one of the possible effects of this is that we run the danger of losing our sense of perspective and focus on the problems in our backyard, which are in the western world, let’s face it, often (not always, but often) trivial. I, for one, hope the media (yes, I’m generalizing) will keep their eyes on both local as well as (intern)national issues. Judging from what I read in even our Belgian quality newspapers, however, I fear the opposite…
I’d tend to disagree with Serge; or at least not take as sharp a view.
Now, media- and information-wise, there are so many vehicles to obtain national and global news. Too many, actually — which is why local dailies are having trouble.
There local newspapers and other sources of information cannot compete on a national or global level. Let the NYTimes, Associated Presses, WSJournals, and other more capable news-gathering organizations handle that. We’ll find it.
But, our local newspapers and the growing social media, like PlaceBlogger and local discussion boards are allowing us to connect more with our own community. Drawing us closer (hopefully).
Mike
“We’ll find it.” I hope so, Mike, but I am not so sure we will. Mind you: I see your point. But a lot of people (at least around here) often stick to one (or two, but that’s mostly overstretching it) source of information. And if that medium only focuses on local issues, a lot of people WILL lose the bigger picture. Make no mistake: I’m all for local media connecting people to their local community, and yes, I also hope/believe they can bring people closer together, but is there no balance to be found? Naturally, I guess you can’t compare the American situation to the Belgian one…