Hyperlocal News Roundup
Another good batch of articles below. In particular, check out the Talk About Local piece (by Nicky Getgood) on using platforms other than WordPress to create a hyperlocal blog/site. That’s a topic I’m particularly interested in, and there are several links/videos in Nicky’s piece that I want to spend more time investigating.
We’ve run a guest post before about using a Wiki for your hyperlocal site, and if any readers have experience using the platforms mentions in Nicky’s article — or any other platform — I’d love to run a guest article about it. Email me.
- Talking to Anthony Hickey about Mayo Today, talkaboutlocal.org.uk
- What’s Really Making Seattle a Hyperlocal News Hotbed, thesunbreak.com
- FLOWCHART: Should journalists learn programming skills?, 10000words.net
- Just-launched iNeedaGreatStory.com claims it ‘makes life easier for editors everywhere’, www.poynter.org
- Newspapers Hit New Low as an Information Source, gigaom.com
- The day my hyperlocal blog post was published in a major regional newspaper, philipjohn.co.uk
- Cleveland Calling (aka Bloggers We Love: Michelle Venorsky of Cleveland Foodie), Outside.in Blog
- Creating community websites with platforms other than WordPress, talkaboutlocal.org.uk
- Guest Post: Establishing news sites from the ground up, Lost Remote
- Engaging your community – get hyperlocal!, www.advancedaccess.com
Pasadena News Site To Launch Hyperlocal, Online TV Channel
Pasadena Now, a news site that’s been covering its southern California hometown for seven years, is getting ready to launch a hyperlocal, online TV channel that will offer 16 hours of programming daily, seven days a week. James Macpherson, who publishes Pasadena Now with Candice Merrill, tells me that the channel is scheduled to launch on August 20th and the goal is to equal the viewing experience that locals are used to from watching television.
“The key, in my opinion, to hyperlocal video being successful will be to offer original programming which is streamed,” he said in a recent email conversation. “Protocols and appearance must mirror network TV standards to the greatest extent possible, in order to gain the public’s acceptance. The look and feel must mirror ‘real TV.’”
Macpherson says Pasadena Now will initially feature pre-existing content. By the six-month mark, the plan is that the bulk of programming will be new content. The video channel’s home page currently advertises a weekday, 6:00 pm newscast and a 7:00 am morning talk show. Both are planned to debut in October. Macpherson says the channel will also live stream community events. All of this will be done with a team of 7-9 videographers.
For now, Pasadena Now hasn’t tried to sell advertisers on the concept, but Macpherson has a plan and says he’s “not terribly worried” about finding advertisers.
“Our objective is to create specialty audiences. For example, to work with the Pasadena Humane Society to produce a weekly ‘Pasadena Pet Channel.’ We won’t charge the PHSSPCA, but we will require that they must promote each show with an email blast to their 5,000 members. We will then sell commercials to local pet stores and vets who can be guaranteed that the show’s audience will perfectly match their target audience.”
Macpherson’s math suggests that the channel — if it sells its entire commercial inventory — would bring in more than $13,000 per week: 12 commercials per hour (30-second spots) for 16 hours each day is 192 spots per day, or 1,344 commercials per week. If Pasadena Now charges $10 per spot, that’s $13,440 per week. Is it wishful thinking that every available spot will be sold in a given week? Probably, but Macpherson is confident.
“I am extremely optimistic. Our prices will be reasonable, our costs low, and let’s face it, most people love the idea of being on TV.”
Google’s Hyperlocal Video Thing – A Yawner
I joined in the excited buzz last month when word spread that Google was doing some kind of hyperlocal video/news project in the San Francisco area.
Turns out that Google’s plan isn’t as exciting as first thought. It’s actually kinda of a yawner.
Google announced on Thursday that the company is working with the local ABC TV station to power their “UReport” citizen video submission service:
ABC7 will use YouTube Direct to collect news footage from people in the San Francisco Bay Area. Residents of the Bay Area are invited to document the news and events happening where they live, work and play, and to submit those videos via YouTube Direct to the producers at ABC7. The team at ABC7 will feature newsworthy videos on television (Channel 7 in the Bay Area), on their website (ureport.abc7news.com), and on their YouTube channel (youtube.com/abc7news).
Like … really? That’s it? Terribly anti-climactic. Citizens are already posting news videos on YouTube every day. You’d think Google could come up with something more creative than this, y’know?
Hyperlocal News Roundup
There are some seriously great articles and blog posts in the list below. If you only have time to read a couple, I’d say you should focus on “How to Tell a Journalist from a Blogger” (and its lengthy comment section), along with Tim Berry’s “10 Blogging Tips. My 1,000th Post on This Blog.” (The Google Groups thread about low-cost marketing is also good.)
- Drilling Down – Where the Bloggers Are, New York Times
- Getting election expenses from your local elections office, Help Me Investigate Blog
- Keep your local blog buzzing with amazing content, agentgenius.com
- Low-Cost Marketing/Promotion Ideas for Hyperlocal Sites, Google Groups
- Should The East Village "Blog Mafia" Really Be Out To "Stop" The New York Times’ Hyperlocal Experiment?, www.businessinsider.com
- Well This Is Something New, www.gohyperlocal.com
- How to Tell a Journalist from a Blogger, jolieodell.wordpress.com
- 10 Blogging Tips. My 1,000th Post on This Blog, timberry.bplans.com
- AOL Patch and MainStreetConnect Expand Hyper-Local News, PBS
- Survey: Half of Journalists Think Their Offline Publications Will Eventually Fold, www.socialtimes.com
- The New Online Journalists #6: Conrad Quilty-Harper, onlinejournalismblog.com
- Writers Talk About Working the Hyper-Local Beat, PBS
Traditional Media are Funny
It’s sometimes funny to watch/read the traditional media write about hyperlocal.
I’ve read TIME magazine’s article, Are Hyperlocals Replacing Traditional Newspapers?, a couple times now. It’s pretty good overall.
But I can’t not chuckle at the first paragraph on page two:
Most hyperlocal sites don’t have the budget for flashy graphics or searchable databases. Their content comes from observant neighbors (and local gadflies) who care about both large and small goings-on around town. Hyperlocal sites also frequently publish upbeat accounts of parades and high school sports, as well as information on which local vendors sell the best produce. Recent headlines on Record’s site noted a “mega-low” tide and an upcoming garden tour.
Hehehehe. It’s as if the writer is completely flummoxed over the possibility that people actually care about parades (BTW, have you ever attended a downbeat parade?), high school sports, local food/vendors, garden tours, and local weather conditions.
Funny.
By the way, the “Record” mentioned in that excerpt is frequent HLB commenter Tracy Record of the West Seattle Blog, who makes a few appearances in TIME’s article.
Sacramento Bee & Local Blogs: “Win-Win”
While my newspaper (and, no doubt, many others) is afraid of local blogs and citizen journalism, the Sacramento Bee is describing its partnership with dozens of local blogs a “win-win” for all involved.
Bee Editor Melanie Sill writes about Sacramento Connect, the local blog network/partnership that began with the newspaper and 18 blogs/sites, and now boasts a roster of more than 70 partners.
Launch was greeted enthusiastically. Readers who commented liked the network concept. Metrics tracking showed immediate use of the “Share” function of the toolbar, and the rich media format of the ad position got attention from some advertising customers. Ad revenue was steady, though modest, from the outset, through the toolbar and ads served on sacbee.com pages. Page views, “shares” from the toolbar, revenue and other metrics were established at the outset, and we’re pleased by progress.
The greatest lesson wasn’t about technology. It was this: Sacramento Connect’s successes and potential spring from the network effect — the activity and involvement of partners and the value of connections among them and The Bee. Partners share insights about their readers, subject matter and the local communities they cover. They ask questions about blogging and technology. They have offered praise and critiques of The Bee and sacbee.com, and have contributed content ideas.
She ends the piece by calling the paper’s partnership with local blogs a “win-win.” Nice to see a traditional media outlet not afraid to reach out and make connections with local blogs and citizen journalists.
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