Where’s the Hyperlocal Content?

by Matt on Aug 22, 2008 in Content

Chris Tolles, CEO of local news aggregator Topix.com, wrote about local advertising and local content last week on iMedia Connection. It’s an interesting piece. He lays out the stats about how local advertising dollars are shifting to the web, but wonders where the local content is:

Well, nature abhors a vacuum. Thus, amateur, user-generated content and commentaries are taking off in local markets. The internet’s solution to the dearth of local news coverage is the same as it has been with other problems of scale: let the people build it themselves. Similar to Wikipedia, the Open Directory and Usenet, truly local content is going to be provided by the people who live there.

In looking at sites like MetroBlogs, Gothamist publications, Outside.in, NowPublic, Baristanet and Topix (the site that I run), it becomes apparent that a massive amount of attention and investment has been paid to giving people a platform for engagement with the places they live. And while social networks (based on who you know) like Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace have generated a lot of usage, and even more buzz, none of them has really provided a locally contextual venue. You are unlikely to meet the neighbors who live two blocks away via Facebook or LinkedIn. However, when that same family starts blogging about your neighborhood or commenting on something another neighbor wrote, it’s a compelling discussion — one that you’re likely to read and possibly even join.

(emphasis mine)

Three cheers for Chris Tolles! That’s exactly what hyperlocal blogging is about, and why I started this blog. I don’t know if local content will ever fully catch up with local advertising, but that’s okay. There will eventually be enough local places (blogs, etc.) for advertisers to spend their dollars so they can reach a hyperlocal audience.

YOUR TURN: Do you agree or disagree?

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August 22, 2008 | Filed Under Content 

Comments

One Response to “Where’s the Hyperlocal Content?”

  1. Justin Smith | Searching Solutions on August 24th, 2008 7:38 pm

    I actually think there is plenty of local content out there. Just look at the real estate “blogosphere”. There are thousands of active RE blogs around the country, and many of them do pretty well. I would guess that out of any other industry, real estate has the most hyper local blogs… just a theory.

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