Hyperlocal: Not for the Faint of Heart
by Matt on Aug 31, 2010 in Industry
American Journalism Review has an article out that is far from earth-shattering, but I think it does a fair job of summarizing the state of local news sites/blogs at the moment. In a phrase: “not for the faint of heart.”
At this moment, news organizations and startups across the country are betting heavily that hyperlocal news sites will solve the needs of both consumers and advertisers. But this path is littered with false starts and failures, some quite fresh. In June, the New York Times handed the keys to its New Jersey community news site to the hyperlocal veterans at Baristanet.com, after turning over its Brooklyn community site to journalism grad students at City University of New York.
Other news organizations have launched and abandoned hyperlocal efforts over the years, some big like the Washington Post, others small and unknown. The managers of these projects tend to leave a common admonition to those who would follow: Hyperlocal is difficult, expensive and not for the faint of heart.
I’d put an asterisk next to “expensive” in that sentence, actually. It doesn’t take a lot of money to setup a hosting account somewhere and install WordPress. That’s all you need to start publishing. The tools of the trade don’t need to be wallet-busters, either. But to do hyperlocal right, it’s certainly expensive in terms of how much time you spend.
The full article is here: The Hazards of Hyperlocal. And there’s more on Mediagazer, too.
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One can replace “hyperlocal” with “pizzeria,” then delete “expensive” entirely, and the same would be true. Every new business (and industry) deals with supply and demand, competition, and novel modes of distribution. No one said this would be easy.
But if the pizza — er, hyperlocal news — is really good, there will be demand, regardless of the competition or distribution.
I’m hungry.
I have used that exact term many times when people ask about my site Matt. In it’s basic form, going hyperlocal is not expensive. In my case, it can get very expensive trying to cover news without advertising profits making it worthwhile. Time, gas money, equipment etc…