April 13th, 2010 by Wadds

Local newspaper engages with audience via social network: from Flickr to print

Newspapers have largely ignored social networks as a means to engage with their audience, seeking instead to force readers onto their web sites. But this example bucks the trend.

Remember the sunset shot that I took of the Cheviots in Northumberland a couple of weeks ago? Probably not but stick with me.

I posted the image to the Your Place Northumberland Flickr group that’s curated by the hyperlocal team at the Newcastle Journal. It made the Your Place hyperlocal web site. And now the Northumberland Journal Extra local newspaper.

I think that its an important step because it shows traditional media engaging with its audience and sourcing content via a social network.

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March 31st, 2010 by Wadds

Johnston Press kills regional pay walls

Consumers won’t pay for local news online, at least not in its current form, according to a trial that Johnston Press has brought to an abrupt end.

Here’s PaidContent:

“[The] three-month pay trial on six local papers sites is now ending, with apparently dismal results.  [...] While some of the sites had pay or registration barriers, others’ articles told readers to go buy the paper after paragraph two.”

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January 6th, 2010 by Wadds

Hyperlocal meetup: Addiply provides income stream for hyperlocal media properties

Last night at the Duke of York off London’s Charlotte Street I got an interesting insight into the future of local media in the UK. Addiply’s Rick Waghorn invited me to a small meetup of regional media properties and contributors.

Rick and his business partner Matt Waring are the team behind the Addiply local ad network that is brokering deals with regional media groups such as Trinity Mirror in the North East for its Your place network and independent hyperlocal sites such as Josh Halliday’s Sunderland’s SR2 Blog and Philip John’s Litchfield blog.

Addiply’s contention is that existing ad platforms are too complex to setup for local advertisers and aren’t sufficiently granular to work on a hyperlocal basis.

Addiply makes advertising as simple as posting an ad in a newsagent. And that’s important for small businesses and site owners alike. Costs are intentionally low to buy an ad on a hyperlocal blog (typically £10 per week) with 90 per cent of the fees returned to the publisher.

Rick’s goal is to sign-up more hyperlocal publishers nationwide and then package deals for brands and the public sector that are seeking to reach regional markets on a local basis. He’s got several deals with regional publishers in the works so watch this space.

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January 5th, 2010 by Wadds

Flat Earth News story as “arctic” conditions head south

In a demonstration of Nick Davis’ Flat Earth News and the differences between regional and London based reporting the media is getting overexcited by the prospect of a flurry of snow heading south.

Broadcasters, nationals and wires are all leading with arctic predictions for the next 48 hours. Yet according to AccuWeather it is currently 2ºC in London and - 21ºC in Antarctica. All sense of perspective has been lost our predominately based London media.

Much of the north and Scotland has had snow on the ground for the last three weeks. We’ve had snow on the ground at home in Northumberland for more than three weeks.

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September 24th, 2009 by Wadds

“Unhyperlocal”

Russell Davies has spotted the flaw in using a network of local bloggers as a cost-effective model for developing local content. I blogged about this issue last month.

Here’s what Russell has to say.

[…] writing about my neighbourhood worries me deeply. Because the people and shops and cafes are going to notice that you’re writing about them, and if you’re in any way critical they’ll know and glare at you, and you’re going to feel really bad.[…] There’s a difference between slagging off a restaurant you don’t intend to go back to and walking past the same place every day.

I’ve tried it and its not comfortable. There is no doubt hyper local media is viable and that local bloggers are able to provide the content and reach of a regional newspaper but the issues of personal anonymity and legal protection need be tackled.

Russell again.

[…] if hyperlocalism is going to work in the UK maybe it needs to be aggregated rather than authored (somehow, I’m not really sure what I mean by that) or it needs some imprimatur of professionalism that says “I’m just doing my job”.

The twin issues of personal exposure and the backup of a publisher need to be resolved if hyperlocal media is going to work.

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May 28th, 2009 by Wadds

Trendwatch: Hyperlocalism

Bloggers coached or edited by journalists to produce an alternative to regional media, either online, or in print, using emerging blog-to-publishing tools such as Tabbliod or being developed by the team behind the Things Our Friends Wrote On The Internet 2008 project.


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