• Two new social media tools to watch for use in Web journalism, www.ojr.org
• Feeling the Groupon heat, Next Door Media unveils coupon site, www.techflash.com
• AOL’s Patch makes WA debut, jumping into hyperlocal hotbed, www.techflash.com
• ‘Making it findable’ – the creed of the hyperlocal blogger, podnosh.com
• Community news sites are not a business yet, newsosaur.blogspot.com
• Hyperlocal: hard work and still not a business – 10 key takeaways, www.wallblog.co.uk
• The History and Future of Hyper-Local Radio, www.theatlantic.com
• Annandale Blogger’s Advice? Stay in School., Outside.in Blog
• Las Vegas Sun rolls out hyperlocal features, Lost Remote
• Patch site launches early after school shooting, Lost Remote
• Why Open Media Boston Attended the "Block by Block" Community News Summit 2010, openmediaboston.org
• Will AOL bring daily deals to Patch sites?, Lost Remote

This is an article from HyperlocalBlogger, a site about the intersection of local search and blogging by Matt McGee.

Hyperlocal News Roundup

• Finalists for the 2010 Online Journalism Awards announced, journalists.org
• Block by Block: Once you’ve launched, what’s Phase 2 of a community news startup?, Nieman Journalism Lab
• Hyperlocal Voices: Julia Larden (Acocks Green Focus Group), Online Journalism Blog
• J-Lab Report: What Works For Hyperlocal News Sites, KnightBlog
• Lesson from a tech startup: Sometimes you need a human, Nieman Journalism Lab
• Patch, the WalMart of News?, www.laweekly.com
• The Rise of Page View Journalism, www.wolf-howl.com
• How to beat AOL’s Patch, howardowens.com
• How To: Add Geotagging to Blog Posts for Local Search Engine Marketing, Online Marketing Blog
• Local Video Online – guest post from Damian Radcliffe, Talk About Local
• Ten Questions: Karen Strunks of Wake Green Park, Talk About Local
• You can compete and collaborate at the same time, stevebuttry.wordpress.com

This is an article from HyperlocalBlogger, a site about the intersection of local search and blogging by Matt McGee.

Hyperlocal News Roundup

Mel watched some of the live streaming from the summit and came away less than impressed with at least one session that he saw. And so the obvious response from organizers has been, basically, that Mel didn’t really experience the summit.

Well, of course he didn’t. Because it’s invitation only.

Why is that, I wonder. It seems odd to me that, in an industry where the conventional wisdom is that hyperlocal news and citizen journalism is an opportunity that’s available to anyone who wants to try, you basically have to be a “someone” to attend (one of?) the industry’s premier educational events. That seems counter-intuitive and contradictory to me.

Perhaps there are excellent reasons for this; I don’t know. But I’d love to. Organizers? Anyone?

(Disclaimer: I must confess that part of my frustration on this topic stems from the fact that I emailed the organizers in early August looking for information and expressing a desire to attend, got a brief reply back that, as I recall, promised more information in a second email … and then never received another email. I understand; we’re all busy. Still doesn’t feel great.)

Postscript: Shortly after posting this, I found this article by Michele McLellan, one of the organizers, discussing the possibility of a future Block by Block conference(s). Attendees have setup various email lists and social networking groups to discuss that possibility. Since I’m not an attendee, I’ll reiterate my suggestion here: Make it open to all. As an “industry,” we need to spread wings as far as possible and reach as many local bloggers and journalists as we can. We need to adopt our own version of Gusteau’s famous advice from Ratatouille and support the idea that “anyone can blog.” And then help them do it.

This is an article from HyperlocalBlogger, a site about the intersection of local search and blogging by Matt McGee.

Why is Block by Block an Invite-Only Affair?

• Getting Hyperlocal Blog Traffic Based On Tragic Events That I Wish I Didn’t Get, Blogger Lens
• School district reverses media policy for bloggers, Lost Remote
• Hyperlocal: What Works, What Doesn’t, newspaperdeathwatch.com
• Journal Register to launch ‘hyperlocal portal’, Lost Remote
• What “engagement” means to TBD.com, rjiblog.org
• Who’s pimping who?, The Hyperlocalist
• Chicago Tribune relaunches TribLocal.com, Lost Remote
• Audience engagement and business sense are essential to success of local news start ups, www.knightdigitalmediacenter.org
• How can hyperlocals and the mainstream media work better together?, Sarah Hartley
• Hyperlocal Fun in the Sun, California Style, Outside.in Blog
• New survey: Community news site users more satisfied compared to their local mainstream news sources, www.rjionline.org
• Gannett Goes Hyperlocal With HighSchoolSports.net, paidContent.org
• We’re here at BxB, Lost Remote

This is an article from HyperlocalBlogger, a site about the intersection of local search and blogging by Matt McGee.

Hyperlocal News Roundup

There are already a ton of hyperlocal blogs and news sites covering New York City, but NearSay says it’s taking a different approach — the curation of news from other sources. In an email this week, co-founder Trevor Sumner described NearSay as

“…a mix of curated neighborhood news (hand-picked by our editors) and prominent user contributions (from community members). We are not an aggregator. We are humans who use aggregators and many other sources to hand-select only the best neighborhood news.”

NearSay hits the ground with 80 contributors and their contributions get ranked to determine the site’s most “influential n-siders.” There’s even an influencer leaderboard that can be sorted by topic and/or neighborhood. Interesting. Not an idea that would fly in smaller cities, I’m afraid (my area doesn’t have enough “influencers” to contribute to such a thing, much less be ranked on a leaderboard), but it could work in the Big Apple and other larger cities.

I do like the idea of curating content, and think there’s a lot of value in that approach especially in crowded areas with a lot of content being produced. So, best of luck to the NearSay team. It’ll be interesting to watch how the site fares.

This is an article from HyperlocalBlogger, a site about the intersection of local search and blogging by Matt McGee.

NearSay Curates Hyperlocal News in NYC

Blogging, on the other hand, will continue to be the work of the few: eMarketer says about 12% of U.S. Internet users will update a blog at least monthly this year, and only 13.3% by 2014. We’re the minority. Not too surprising, especially with many “regular folks” finding it much easier to maintain a Facebook or Twitter presence and using that for sharing content.

There’s another important distinction to be made, and I’m glad to see it was mentioned in the eMarketer article: Going forward, the distinction between a blog and a web site will be harder to make. It’s already difficult in many cases, and you could argue it’s a completely unneeded distinction. Says eMarketer:

But there is a caveat to this forecast: Over time, blogs will continue to become indistinguishable from other media channels.

I already foresee the day when I need to change the name of this blog you’re reading now. It won’t be Hyperlocal Blogger. It’ll be … something that doesn’t force a distinction on blogging.

This is an article from HyperlocalBlogger, a site about the intersection of local search and blogging by Matt McGee.

Reading Blogs: More Mainstream; Blogging: Not So Much

It’s streaming live online right now.

The conference continues through Friday afternoon.

This is an article from HyperlocalBlogger, a site about the intersection of local search and blogging by Matt McGee.

Block by Block Conference Streaming Live

Of particular note in the list is the journalist’s guide to jobs at Patch, which I found a pretty interesting read.

• What’s it like running a hyperlocal blog? An interview with @DaveLee, The Olympic Borough, laraoreilly.wordpress.com
• DataSphere Raises $10M For Hyper-Local News Platform, GigaOM
• The hyperlocal news effort that’s bigger than Patch, Lost Remote
• Hyperlocal voices: Mike Atkinson from Parwich.org, Online Journalism Blog
• Reinvigorate analytics and WordPress Plugin, wpcandy.com
• A Blowhard Blogger Looks at 40: Mike Doyle’s Top Blogging Tips, Outside.in Blog
• Chicago to offer press passes to freelancers and bloggers, Lost Remote
• Going The Non-Profit Route: Some Things You Should Know, Growthspur Blog
• Mark Smalley develops geo-location Plugin and platform on WordPress, wpcandy.com
• Update: Examiner.com explains low wages, hyperlocal strategy, emediavitals.com
• Hyperlocal voices: Alderleyedge.com’s Lisa Reeves, Online Journalism Blog
• Outside.in Hyperlocal News API 2.0, Outside.in Blog
• Boston.com expands hyperlocal effort, Lost Remote
• How journalists can create readers, www.edwalker.net
• Legal challenges facing online journalists, www.edwalker.net
• Ten Questions: Sean Brady of Formby First, Talk About Local
• A Rabble Rouser in Redmond?, Outside.in Blog
• Latest Online Hyperlocal News Player: Press Release Distributor ReadMedia, paidContent.org
• Publishers, the Outside.in API is Here!, Outside.in Blog
• 5 Mistakes That Make Local Blogs Fail, PBS
• A Journalist Guide to Jobs @ Patch.com, clayduda.com
• In Hyperlocal News, Where’s the Urgency?, Poynter Online
• Patch.com Rep on Newspapers versus Local Internet News, pjnet.org

This is an article from HyperlocalBlogger, a site about the intersection of local search and blogging by Matt McGee.

Hyperlocal News Roundup

• Rick Waghorn: Why the ‘Godfather of Hyperlocal’ is keeping it simple, blogs.independent.co.uk
• Two great projects for hyperlocal websites: UK Sound Map and the 4am Project, Talk About Local
• ESPN can’t just bigfoot its way into local markets, Los Angeles Times
• Hyperlocal network Neighbortree raises $120,000, Lost Remote
• TBD uses map-based crowdsourcing to chart public transport problems, Editors Weblog
• London’s Hyperlocal News Blogs, www.speedcommunications.com
• Patch is coming to my town! Thoughts on competition and collaboration, stevebuttry.wordpress.com
• Take two: How Patch.com – or any national network of local news websites – might succeed, www.ojr.org
• TBD hyperlocal site’s traffic pops up during hostage crisis at Discovery Channel’s headquarters, www.solomonscandals.com

This is an article from HyperlocalBlogger, a site about the intersection of local search and blogging by Matt McGee.

Hyperlocal News Roundup

You can find a job listing for Local Editor – Chicago on Yahoo Careers web site.

Yahoo! is looking for an expert online editor to raise the level of our content served to the citizens of Chicago. The ideal candidate will be a seasoned editor with a passion for news, new media, and their local market. He or she will synthesize content from a number of sources and publishers into a relevant, addictive offering for residents. You should be flexible, quick-thinking, energetic, efficient, and able to work independently under pressure while maintaining attention to detail. Real-world journalistic experience managing digital news on deadline is a must.

Some other highlights from the bullet list items:

- Crafting clever and SEO-friendly headlines, writing tease copy, choosing and cropping appropriate images

- Reporting and writing engaging and exceptional news stories and blog posts from primary or secondary sources on deadline

- Monitoring blog comments, surfing similar sites for story ideas

- Familiarity with SEO, RSS, Twitter, Facebook and other social media

Maybe the thing that stands out the most to me is this qualification:

- Minimum 3+ years online and 5+ years overall experience at a major media outlet in your market

They’re definitely not looking for beginning hyperlocal hopefuls, that’s for certain. No mention of a salary, but I suspect if you’re expecting to hire someone who’s been working the Chicago media scene for five years minimum, you’re going to be paying that person pretty well.

This is an article from HyperlocalBlogger, a site about the intersection of local search and blogging by Matt McGee.

Yahoo’s Hyperlocal Help Wanteds