Piling On: Google Wants to Do Hyperlocal News, Too
by Matt on Jun 17, 2010 in Industry
There’s a phrase I use when I’m driving down the highway and several cars suddenly switch into my lane and slow me down: “Oh, right. Everybody pile into my lane, why don’t you?” And that’s how hyperlocal news is starting to feel. Everybody’s piling on. The latest to join the fray?
Google. Via YouTube.
SF Weekly has the story here about Google very quietly contacting local bloggers and journalists in San Francisco with news of a video-based citizen journalism project that’s happening in July and August. This is from an email sent by YouTube’s project leader to one of the local bloggers in the Bay Area:
For the months of July and August, YouTube is going local in San Francisco to encourage citizen videographers — anyone with a video-capable phone or camera, really, — to help cover San Francisco’s news, issues and events and we want local news sites to join us.
If you’re interested, I’m rounding up a group of San Francisco bloggers, writers and digital journalists next week to speak about the project in more detail in person.
(Ironically, the email also asks the blogger to “be discreet” about who they tell. Heheheeee.)
The local blogger continued the conversation with the YouTube rep, who eventually explained that YouTube has lined up 150 video journalists and wanted the blogger to use some of the footage. The YouTube rep also shared a link to this Atlantic article, "How to Save the News".
Reaction?
Wow. That’s about all I can say on this right now. It’s hard to really comment because this is just one Google outreach to one blogger, and you really don’t get a full sense of the big picture here. It goes without saying that Google, depending on what it does in this space, could be an enormous influence in evangelizing citizen reporting via video. Think of the videos that came out of Iran last year, and Haiti, China, and elsewhere during other major news events … or out of London when the subway was bombed several years ago.
Need and want to learn more about this. What about you?
(via MediaGazer)
Update: There’s a report on AllThingsD that plays down the idea that Google is getting into local news/video. Guess we won’t know for certain until they officially say what’s going on.
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5 Responses to “Piling On: Google Wants to Do Hyperlocal News, Too”
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That is brilliant – I’ve always been a Google Fanboy and they are now engaging local people which is absolutely spot on. I think this is pretty correct and if not will be
I run a local portal here in Plymouth, England and am forever loading photos and videos to Panaramio and YouTube.
I really want an invite!
D
Why can’t they just be like all the other rich kids and find a way to aggregate what’s already being done? Everybody is trying to recreate the “network” concept that eventually weakened TV (my alma mater) … national umbrella, local participation … in the end, it was all 7 pm game shows and other entertainment. I am a Google fan myself (despite accusations of disloyalty from local MSFT employees who say that if we’re Seattle-ites, we should be Bing-ing) but I am also suspicious of all the attempts to networkize the neighborhood-news movement. Maybe it’s possible to do this WITHOUT weakening the concept of people building strong local online communities – and it’s not an either-or … Anyway, back to putting on my tin-foil hat now.
Sounds like a pretty promising idea. Perhaps I’m being too skeptical, but I can’t help but wonder if the independent bloggers will get as much out of this as Google and YouTube will. From Eve Batey’s account, it sounds like Google is almost trying to “strong arm” local bloggers by saying it is on track to save the journalism industry… so bloggers should get on board or accept the slow and painful death of journalism.
Matt, I think we’ll continue to see nationwide media organizations — ranging from Google to the New York Times or the Washington Post — moving into your lane, as you put it, to advocate for hyperlocal news. As more and more local newspapers go under, it seems to be simply the only way local news can continue to thrive.
I just updated the post above with a link to AllThingsD, an article that plays down the idea that Google is moving into local news/video:
http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20100618/youtubes-secret-news-experiment-explained-warning-not-really-that-secret/
[...] }); }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 [...]