Do You Have a Print Strategy?
by Matt McGee on Sep 27, 2010 in Blogging | 5 Comments
Okay, local bloggers/journalists/webmasters, here are the questions before you:
1.) Do you have a print version of your local news site/blog?
2.) Have you ever considered doing a print version?
3.) Do you think it’s a good or bad idea to also have a print version of your blog?
I’m curious mainly because of this recent article in The Guardian about HU17.net, a hyperlocal site covering Beverley, England. Paul Smith is producing a 28-page, full color print version that is published every Tuesday — about 100 copies, the article says — and is distributed to “bars, barbers, and social clubs.”
Could you see yourself doing something similar? Here’s a quick poll. Don’t know how many replies you guys will give me, but I’m curious to gauge how many are doing this.
Comments are open if you’d like to expand on your vote. If you’re not doing a print version, why not?
Hyperlocal News Roundup
by Matt McGee on Sep 26, 2010 in Industry | Leave a Comment
Another big list of links from the last week or so, including a few pieces about the Block by Block conference in Chicago at the end of the week. Was expecting more coverage of that, actually. Maybe it’ll happen during the coming week, since the conference wrapped up on Friday afternoon.
- 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
NearSay Curates Hyperlocal News in NYC
by Matt McGee on Sep 24, 2010 in Industry | 1 Comment
NearSay just launched this week with a hyperlocal focus on an already crowded area: New York City. Here’s a look at the home page on this late Friday afternoon:

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.
Reading Blogs: More Mainstream; Blogging: Not So Much
by Matt McGee on Sep 24, 2010 in Blogging, Industry | 2 Comments
Some interesting stats out this week from eMarketer about the penetration of both blog reading and blog writing in the U.S. In a blog post earlier this week, eMarketer says more than half of all Internet users in the U.S. will read blogs at least once a month this year. Their forecast says that number will hit 60% by 2014.

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.
Block by Block Conference Streaming Live
by Matt McGee on Sep 23, 2010 in Industry | 1 Comment
I had hoped to attend the Block by Block hyperlocal conference which is now underway in Chicago. If you couldn’t make it, either, or maybe didn’t even know about it, it’s okay — you can watch online.
It’s streaming live online right now.
The conference continues through Friday afternoon.
Hyperlocal News Roundup
by Matt McGee on Sep 19, 2010 in Industry | 2 Comments
This is the MEGA edition of the hyperlocal news roundup — 20+ links below that should include something of interest to most anyone. This is what happens when you combine cross-country travel with getting sick as soon as you get home. Ugh. That’s how I’ve spent the past 8-10 days. Hope yours have been better.
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





