Gaining Readers & Community Though Hyper-Local Content

I think I have one answer about Chuck Tanowitz’s question regarding how newspapers can regain ground – it’s called hyper-local content. See my previous post on Community Journalism in the 21st Century.

Basically, some newspapers are generating a lot of ‘hyper-local’ content not available to national websites. The community journalists give the newspaper the opportunity to cover in more depth a local community all by using unpaid community journalists.

Posted by johncass at October 21, 2005 6:47 PM

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Comments

Hi John,

Yes, I agree on the hyperlocal content, but there are some independents doing the same thing (http://h20town.info). The Globe certainly hasn't figured this out yet.

My concern is far more practical: where is the revenue? Display ads have never made up the bulk of revenue, but even with hyperlocal content, can they become the center of the community? I wonder if it will take much more than even that.

Using H2Otown as the model, it's not about straight reporting, it's about community involvement. Of course, these haven't made much money either, so revenue there is yet to be seen.

Posted by: Chuck Tanowitz at October 21, 2005 7:19 PM