I’m not sure I agree with the headline (or some of the assertions therein) but I recommend reading AJR’s essay on “The Hazards of Hyperlocal.” Barb Palser, the director of digital media for McGraw-Hill Broadcasting Co., wrote it. Her main point is that it’s hard to make money off a hyperlocal site. I agree it’s hard but it’s not impossible. She also asserts there may not be enough interest in community news to sustain the sites:
“…for people who are accustomed to centering their social interactions and news consumption on their personal interests, the write-ups of town council meetings, local theater events and public works projects typically found on a hyperlocal site might not seem any more relevant than the offerings of a traditional news site. “
And here’s where I disagree. As a suburban town resident, I care a lot about such events. Local politics is especially important. If my neighborhood is rezoned or redistricted, that’s important (even breaking) news to me. I care about police incidents in my town. I care if a section of road is going to be blocked. We’ve had a number of hot button issues in my town in the past couple of years, and those aren’t covered terribly well by traditional news sites. Still, Palser cites a Pew Research study which asserts the size of the potential audience:
“Assuming Pew’s findings are reasonably accurate, the potential audience seeking neighborhood news in a given community would be roughly 20 percent of the population–including both frequent and infrequent users. Now consider the competition of multiple hyperlocal sites and bloggers, established community newspapers, and aggregators such as Topix.com and Outside.in. Not to mention other sources of local information such as online directories, event calendars and government sites. The math suggests a very stiff challenge.”
Aggregators are great, but if there’s no source of information about my neighborhood then how will the aggregators ever find them? Online directories, event calendars and government sites can provide varying degrees of information. (My town’s site stinks.) But where’s the news?
Hyperlocal news can only be sustained by local advertising. And on this notion, Palser makes an excellent point. She writes that services like Foursquare may have the edge in getting local ad bucks.
“Founder Dennis Crowley expects Foursquare’s main revenue stream to come from offering local businesses the ability to send special offers to consumers at exactly the right moment. It’s hard to get more relevant than that.”
A possibility. It would require a lot of feet on the street to sell Foursquare store-by-store, however. The successful hyperlocals have proven to be good at this tactic. Palser’s piece contains some good caveats, mind you. Hyperlocal is hard. But it’s also sustainable, given a passionate enough owner.
(Note to AJR: I recommend adding a comments section to your site. You would have heard from some interesting local site owners.)