The Washington Post’s big inaugural hyperlocal news effort, which began with a single site, LoudounExtra.com, is a “flop,” reports the Wall Street Journal. While I think that judgment is a little harsh, the site is not performing very well, and chief architect Rob Curley and his team left Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive last month to go work for the Las Vegas Sun.
The article is a must-read study of hyperlocal (neighborhood-focused) news, an area of tremendous potential that nobody has really figured out yet. Three of the lessons learned are 1) WashingtonPost.com didn’t integrate or even link LoudounExtra.com, even on Loudoun county stories and 2) Curley admits his team didn’t spend enough time in the community learning about its uniquenesses and promoting the site’s benefits and 3) Loudoun county is a large area with cities that don’t think of themselves as related. The Post says it’s still planning to move ahead with the next community (FairfaxExtra.com), but it may decide to fold the hyperlocal sites into their respective community sections on WashingtonPost.com.
Meanwhile, Curley’s new venture in Las Vegas is with the Las Vegas Sun, Las Vegas Weekly and “a broadcast property.” Hmmm. “Curley has a budget to hire 40+ people for the Vegas ventures,” reports the Kelsey Group, and he says he has ambitions with community video. Stay tuned…