Back in July, we wrote about the launch of Localism, a hyperlocal site that leverages real estate agents to provide information and news coverage on a neighborhood level. We were skeptical about the ability for real estate agents to provide real news coverage, but the site has positioned itself as a “Neighborpedia,” not a neighborhood news site per se. It has also launched a fascinating sponsorship model. Localism is an outgrowth of ActiveRain, a massive real estate community, and the most active contributors on ActiveRain were allowed first crack at buying neighborhood level sponsorships for $9 a month. Only one agent per neighborhood, but the self-service interface made it easy for agents to scoop up multiple neighborhoods at a time. Then other agents were allowed to follow on a strict schedule, resulting in a “land grab” of sorts. While many neighborhoods are still unsponsored, this approach taps into the economic concept of scarcity — something you don’t see very often in the long tail world of the internet. Scarcity creates demand, generates excitement and pushes up pricing (although in this case, the pricing is flat. For now.) It also keeps ad clutter to a minimum. Of course, time will tell if Localism builds a big enough audience to keep agents buying.
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