J-Lab has published a solid study that examines what works — and what doesn’t — for community and hyperlocal news sites. “One of our biggest learning curves is this: It doesn’t pay to train whole classes of ‘citizen’ journalists,” explains J-Lab’s Jan Shaffer. “Citizen journalism turns out to be a high-churn, high-touch enterprise — one that requires a full-time community manager.”
Very true. In our personal experience here in Seattle, the biggest critical success factor for a neighborhood news site is a passionate editor. Contributors can amplify it, but the editor is the driver. Someone has to consistently cover the news, scan Twitter, moderate comments, answer email, etc., and it’s not always convenient. When people ask us about starting a neighborhood blog, we tell them, “Your lives will change.”
Among the other big takeways of the study (listed on page 9 of the report): engagement is key, sweat equity counts for a lot, social media is game-changing and community news sites are not a business yet. “Income from grants, ads, events and other things falls short, in most cases, of paying staff salaries and operating expenses,” explains the report.
We’re not a fan of the many breathless reports and studies on hyperlocal these days, but this one based in reality and worth the time to read.