Ofcom recently revealed that nine out of ten UKadults regularly consume some form of local news, information or other content.  The same report shows that one in five Brits use community websites at least once a month, with a third visiting such websites more regularly than two years before[i].  

With national and international news often easier to access than local news, some newspapers have started to make changes to how news is gathered and reported in an attempt to meet the public’s thirst for news about where they live. For example, the South London Press segmented its coverage into small areas of the South Londondistrict so that individual publications focused on a small area. One month after making this change, sales shot up by 44%[ii].  Read More »

The tension between journalists and bloggers has raged ever since “web 2.0” emerged in the new millennium. The journalist is educated and trained, and considered the voice of the nation. Surely they are above other wannabe hacks? But the internet came along and broke this business model, allowing “citizen journalists” to share what they wanted with the world.

Yes, that leads to a lot of dross. But there are some people who can write well, deliver a balanced opinion, and actually share real facts. So what’s the difference between these writers and ‘journalists’? The difference is that journalists get paid by newspaper brands that add credibility and scale with which they can broadcast their views. Read More »

Last year The Guardian wrote a piece on how the jury was still out on hyperlocal and almost a year later that remains truer than ever. No more so than for The Guardian itself, which slipped out last week when so many were away that it is to close its own pilot Guardian Local.

However, that might not be quite the end of the story according to a post on Media Briefing and other initiatives at The Guardian. Read More »

News of the failure of high profile hyperlocal site TBD.com, which some said could provide answers to questions about the future of online news, offers lessons for future ventures and raises the question again about how much of a future hyperlocal sites have.

TBD.com, which launched last August, failed for the same reason all start-ups fail: small audiences, big expenses and small revenues. That all led to big losses and redundancies. Read More »

According to a New York Times report, AOL’s hyperlocal business Patch.com is in some quarters struggling for traffic.

Stories are getting as little as 100 page views and 500 views is considered a success. The problem is that such crumbs of traffic are hardly going to pull in much advertising revenue, which has proved the downfall of past failed hyperlocal ventures. Read More »

A great analysis of how to run hyperlocal news or community site has been published by Jan Schaffer, the director of the J-Lab at American University in Washington, DC, who whose fund has invested in 46 sites in the last five years.

More than a third of those the fund invested in between, as part of a project called New Voices, have closed and while those that persist do so because those who run and contribute to them do so for little or no reward. Read More »

I’d been meaning to write this post for a while or at least every time I skip to the homepage of The Times and skip away just as quickly. I don’t understand why it pushes news so much on its homepage when it is all available to read elsewhere for free. It makes no sense. Read More »

The hyperlocal market in the US is continuing to heat up. USA Today-owner Gannett plans to boost its hyperlocal presence with more than 100 sites that will see it bring together community newspapers, local television stations with its high school sports community website HighSchoolSports.net. Read More »

The Birmingham Mail has launched an ambitious hyperloca project that could set the mould for ventures. It is partnering with a string of local bloggers whose content will be made available online and in print by the Trinity Mirror title.

The Birmingham Mail Communities project will create of 34 hyperlocal sections hosted on the Birmingham Mail website, which will feature content from local blogs.
Read More »

There are a couple of pieces around today on AOL’s ambitious hyperlocal plans that highlight how its growth is being fuelled by journalists working long hours for low pay, according to an email from an insider. Read More »