The Hyperlocal Web

A lot has been said about local-neighbourhood-hyperlocal-type-stuff over the past few weeks and I felt that I wanted to rejoin that conversation having neglected this blog for a shameful length of time.

My own thinking about the possibilities for building stronger real-world communities using online tools has been stimulated by two things in recent months. In early September my own site has celebrated its tenth anniversary with two unforgettable parties which brought together many of the people who have participated in our decade-long experiment in online neighbourhood-building.

And more recently I have taken part in two events - one organised by CABE and the other a more open workshop facilitated by mashup* - which have considered whether the fragmented ‘local web’ efforts by groups and individuals around the country can be replicated - sustainably - on a widespread basis.

What surprises me is how pessimistic people seem to be about the possibility of making local websites pay their way.

“…if you want social reporting to be a job as well as role, you can’t just do local,” claims David Wilcox.

“…there’s no sense that commercially-rewarding levels of activity are emerging in ways that will strengthen local social capital and community cohesion,” argues Kevin Harris.

And William Perrin, whose King’s Cross site I think is great, is similarly downbeat about the economics of local news.

I disagree with them all. 

Here in SE1 we have kept things ticking over for a decade - and I know that we are only scratching the surface of what is possible revenue-wise. 

I accept that we do have a uniquely exciting coverage area which effectively allows us to subside reporting of grassroots issues using the revenue from tourists staying at South Bank hotels, but even in areas that don’t have hotels and restaurants in such abundance I think our experience show that it would be possible to make a lean-and-mean neighbourhood publishing enterprise stack up.

• The Heights Observer
• s1Craigmillar
  (tags: hyperlocal)
• Online Vine - The Interactive Community Hub for Sevenoaks
  (tags: hyperlocal)

Three US local sites I enjoy looking at on a regular basis:

• Pegasus News - This site was recently acuuired by a broadcasting firm. A very sharp site.
• Edhat - I particularly like the banner/display ads on this site
• Loudoun Extra - fascinating watching the Washington Post hyperlocal experiment. One to watch.

Sorry about the lack of posts here. My ‘new term resolution’ for the autumn is to post much more regularly here.

Martin Stabe reports that Trinity Mirror is using of Moveable Type for its new Buckinghamshire Advertiser site.

As I noted here previously TM is using Typepad for its postcode-based sites in the north of England.

I’m still not convinced that a blogging platform is the right choice for a local paper’s entire web operation.

Update: Jeff Jarvis likes it: “It’s simple. It works”

PS sorry for the break in service. I hope to resume regular posts here now.

• Hounam Set To Launch Ultralocal News Magazines Across Scotland (from Sunday Herald)
  “A former Sunday Times journalist is set to launch a franchise micropublishing business that aims to be an antidote to the newspaper industry’s plunging circulation and advertising figures.”
  (tags: hyperlocal,ultralocal)

I liked this post from Pegasus News about why they’re one step up from hyperlocal:

The term hyperlocal, referring to deep local neighborhood and niche coverage, has bothered me for some time. Since we’ve launched, it’s occurred to me that there is nothing wrong with the term, per se — but it isn’t a term that well describes Pegasus News.

My problem with hyperlocal is that I don’t believe in it (and never really have) as a scalable business proposition. There are two inherent problems with hyperlocal: One is that, by nature, it creates such a micro market that there is only a limited number of advertisers and people for them to reach. The bigger problem is that it doesn’t account for the fact that I have at least as much in common with fans of alt-country music who live on the other side of town as I do with my next door neighbor.

• KCNN: Citizen Media: Fad or the Future of News?
  (tags: citizenjournalism journalism onlinejournalism)

• Where News Consumption Is Heading
  “Offer and aggregate hyper-local and niche news, being guides to the best of what’s going on outside their walls, and stop pretending to be oracles.” - Dan Gillmor on what newspapers should do to survive.
  (tags: hyperlocal, dan gillmor)

• Boston.com Ties Hyperlocal, Local Search
  “Boston.com, for instance, is currently on a mission to make its onsite search more relevant at the hyperlocal level by optimizing all its news and features, while crawling local organization sites to come up with content that doesn’t typically come up
  (tags: hyperlocal, search)
• Are you killing your comments?
  “Interactivity is a relationship, built not with computer code but with words exchanged by real, living people on both sides of the Web server.”
  (tags: interactivity)