The term "Hyperlocal" generally refers to community-oriented news content typically not found in mainstream media outlets and covering a geographic region too small for a print or broadcast market to address profitably. The information is often produced or aggregated by online, non-traditional (amateur) sources.
Hyperlocal news is conceptually attractive because of its perceived potential to rescue struggling traditional media organizations. Most attempts at hyperlocal news websites have not proven to be entirely successful. Hyperlocal appears attractive to traditional media organizations for the following reasons:
- There is a perceived demand for news at the neighborhood/community level. The costs of print production and distribution have historically made providing this unprofitable, but the lower cost of web distribution could be used to serve this need.
- In an online world, regional media outlets are no longer the gatekeeper of news content and therefore must rely on their geographic relevance to provide unique value. Hyperlocal news leverages geographic relevance.
- The rise of citizen journalism and Web 2.0 seems to suggest that users could provide the majority of local content, thereby reducing or eliminating staffing costs.
- Local online advertising seems like a promising and not yet fully tapped revenue source.
History & Approaches
Hyperlocal seems to have emerged as a popular concept in 2005, even while regional news websites and blogs were already becoming common1. In 2006-2007, the first significantly funded hyperlocal sites and platforms were launched. There were high-profile failures, most notably Backfence.com (2007) and LoudounExtra.com (from Washington Post in 2008). Many early efforts took the form of online newspaper websites, employing local reporters (or sometimes bloggers), and attempting to source user-generated content by inviting individual submissions or incorporating user discussion functionality. There was much speculation on why this approach often failed. Regardless of the specifics, their universal unprofitability suggests that producing a local newspaper-like presence simply doesn’t create enough demand (online readership) to justify the costs (local staff). Of note are a few surviving examples like the Chicago Tribune’s Triblocal project that create and distribute hyperlocal print editions from their online content, and many hyperlocal blogs which operate on less auspicious budgets.
Around the same time, a slightly more promising wave of information-heavy regional news sites (such as pegasusnews.com) emerged. These sites were inspired by the success of regional review sites such as yelp.com and Yahoo! Local and in response to the high costs of local content production. These new efforts focused on incorporating dynamic regional data, such as crime stats, permit applications, real estate listings, and business directories in lieu of an emphasis on hand-crafted local reporting.
A third and perhaps most promising wave of local news sites emphasized the aggregation of third-party content. These include platforms such as outside.in, topix.com, and everyblock.com – all of which are framework approaches - aggregating content, mostly through RSS feeds, for many geographic locations (in some cases thousands) in order to build enough accumulated traffic to make a local business model work. Some slightly different takes on this model have individuals in specific locations acting as editors and republishing aggregated content (universalhub.com) or aggregator sites focusing on particular types of content (Placeblogger.com).
Lessons Learned
You can’t serve online users the same way as newspapers or broadcasters serve regional audiences. The news and information demands are wildly different. It is not enough to reduce printing and distribution costs or put content into "bite-sized" pieces. The user-consumer is trying to solve radically different problems from a unique perspective around their online information needs.
Giving participatory tools to users does not make them publishers. Users do not produce material that looks anything like mass media content. Users have an expectation of being involved, and their efforts (such as sharing) can be helpful or even necessary in some contexts. However, assumptions about traditional publishers shifting effort "to the crowd" are misguided. Users are also notoriously fickle in their socially-driven motivations. Our understanding around what motivates people to participate online and in what context is limited.
Manually producing local content is expensive. This isn’t a surprise. What shocked people is that there is not enough consumer demand online to justify this cost.
Aggregation is cheap, and if done effectively can create enough demand to be profitable – particularly across many locations. As more sources make their content available through RSS feeds and APIs, this is only going to get better.
1To be clear, the hyperlocal hype from traditional media organizations took fire in 2005, but local sites like Craigslist and H20Town were long-standing successes by this point, thereby playing their part in fueling the excitement.
Comments
Neighborhood conversation
Neighborhood conversation trumps neighborhood news...
Interesting post... thanks Keith. In my experience, many people get very attentive when the postings are relevant within a few hundred households of where they live. Not sure if this is hyper, micro, mini or super-duper-teeny-tiny local. I tend to call it "neighborhood."
At that level, it's not so much about "news" in the way that we typically think of it (reporters, ledes, stories, gov't watchdog, etc.), it's conversation... about a new stop sign, a missing dog, a car break-in, a school fund-raiser.
Another distinction to consider is the WalMart/MacDonald's approach vs. the local business model. Many national "hyperlocal" sites that have no real connection to the hundreds of cities they serve, are like Home Depot rolling over mom and pop hardware stores. They suck oxygen out of the local e-economy and can make it hard for authentically local and innovative sites to get a toehold.
Our Front Porch Forum started in Burlington, VT serving one neighborhood, and now we host 130 in our region... 12,000 households subscribe, including more than one-third of Burlington. Yet another different model.
I agree that our definition
I agree that our definition of news is changing. Our thinking of news as this thing that comes from a single trusted source out to many consumers is increasingly unrepresentative of how we get our information. Digital natives claim significantly decreased interest in "news," yet many participate in social networking sites and link aggregators like fark.com and digg.com - all of which are rife with newsworthy information about our world and our communities and none of which deploy the label "news."
For those in the Boston area,
For those in the Boston area, I'll be leading a discussion at tonight's (2/5/2009) WBUR social media meet up on this topic. Won't you join us? Details here.
For me, as an end user, the
For me, as an end user, the question I want most answered by hyperlocal is "what is happening here?", where the context is my current location and view. This could be a one-time event I'm witnessing, a particular traffic delay or blockage, or an ongoing change to my neighborhood (such as business openings/closings).
As an example, there is a construction site near my office; I want to know what is being built there. I can infer that it's commercial, but I can't easily get the attention of a worker to ask, and employees of nearby businesses either don't know or have only hearsay or rumor. Presumably some of this information is available at City Hall, in permit or zoning filings, but those are not easily searchable, and generally require physical access. In this particular case, I happened to find the notice of zoning hearing sign on one section of fence, so I know the development includes a Chipotle, but there are clearly other stores in the building as well. In general though, someone (the owners, the contractors, the city) has this information, it's just not easily obtained/linked to.
Hopefully I'll be able to hear more from you on this interesting topic at the WBUR tweet-up tomorrow!
Your history is missing the
Your history is missing the latest generation of hyperlocal, which is the neighborhood news site.
This is different than a traditional neighborhood "blog" in the sense that it focuses entirely on news, empowering the community to contribute throughout -- a layer of journalism over the top of an empowered community.
The most successful neighborhood news site in the country, as far as I can tell, is WestSeattleBlog.com, from the perspective of traffic, revenue and contributions. It supports two full time employees in the middle of a recession, and they're looking to hire freelancers, as well.
Speaking for me, my wife and I run MyBallard.com and four other neighborhood news sites in Seattle. MyBallard.com has a full slate of advertisers and is growing at breakneck speed. There are other Seattle neighborhood news sites, as well, which have grown significant audiences as well as a solid neighborhood advertisers.
Search "MyBallard" on my other blog, LostRemote.com, for more...
I agree that hyperlocal
I agree that hyperlocal should not be news in the sense that the NYT is distributing news, but should be those small stories that the big newspapers don't cover. I have just started two hyperlocal sites at www.cincipulse.com and www.ourtown.com/fortmitchellky. My biggest challenge has been getting traffic to the sites and getting my name out there. Any suggestions?
At the risk of sounding
At the risk of sounding trite...
Deliver great content that people can't get anywhere else.
I agree with your point about
I agree with your point about the motivation of online audiences and the uncertain incentives to participate in social media. As a hyperlocal content creator and hyperlocal portal or aggregator publisher I am not interested in the constant talk about profitability and business models. Legacy print media thrived on scarcity and control. Social media thrives on abundance and openness. Information wants to be free, and enough local content creators agree with this and publish accordingly. Information has great utility buts its commercial value has crashed. The most viable model for hyperlocal publishing is as a not for profit community service, not a business. Advertising as a business model is fundamentally flawed. Audiences generally hate advertising and publishers can increase their audiences by removing it. In economic terms I am a bad competitor and part of my mission in publishing advertising free hyperlocal content is to destroy the commercial value of information while increasing its intrinsic value and utility. I want to bury the local content business model. The content revolution is underway. Citizens control the conversation now.
Great post Keith. I won't
Great post Keith. I won't parrot some of the good comments here; rather add two things for consideration.
1) "Local" and "hyperlocal" are going to be increasingly defined by and influenced by mobile and the granularity it affords
2) Each user defines their own "local" differently. Not just by proximity but by what they care about.
Looking forward to following this thread!
- Mark
I like this revision. Is it
I like this revision. Is it me, or does it read that papers are the center of gravity in the hyperlocal movement? I'm not sure we can prove that, and my hunch is that hyperlocal will succeed or fail independently of traditional news organizations. I love Adrian's coinage of "microlocal," too. I also like "panlocal," to describe services like Google Maps, which are local to you wherever you happen to be.
I agree that hyperlocal will
I agree that hyperlocal will succeed or fail independently of traditional news organizations. My interest in highlighting traditional media's role here is because there is increasing hype/interest/pressure from the top of these organizations to exploit this space, but I don't feel there is a complete public understanding of the supply-side pressure, the historic attempts, and what likely won't work.
For example, I think Jay Rosen's tweet regarding the difficulty of traditional media to succeed in this space is right on:
The franchise may be local. Your focus may be local. Staff may "think local." And still you can't gather news local *enough* to meet demand. (@jayrosen_nyu)
My most difficult part of
My most difficult part of hyperlocal blogging is the bad reputation which we get. Many locals say the blog is all negative and that we are a platform for the loudmouth bullies of the town. They then say we won't lower ourselves to respond.
It becomes a vicious cycle to the bottom.
And in spite of trying to remain anonymous, local power-brokers from city hall and schools try to sway the content.
It has become tiresome and no fun anymore, as i am not a LLC and do not have liability coverage.
Hyperlocal, nobody cares unless it's controversial or embarrassing to someone.
My most difficult part of
My most difficult part of hyperlocal blogging is the bad reputation which we get. Many locals say the blog is all negative and that we are a platform for the loudmouth bullies of the town. They then say we won't lower ourselves to respond.
It becomes a vicious cycle to the bottom.
And in spite of trying to remain anonymous, local power-brokers from city hall and schools try to sway the content.
It has become tiresome and no fun anymore, as i am not a LLC and do not have liability coverage.
Hyperlocal, nobody cares unless it's controversial or embarrassing to someone.
I really like your definition
I really like your definition of "hyperlocal" here, along with the reasoning behind its allure. I think the term "hyperlocal," like "Web 2.0," has been so watered down that it's essentially hot air, but your definition is the closest I've seen to something that actually resembles logic. Nicely put. :-)
You might be interested in something I wrote a short while ago about "microlocal" news -- a specific, definable genre of local news that deals with displaying news at the block level (as done by my site, EveryBlock).
Thanks for the link, Adrian.
Thanks for the link, Adrian. I agree wholeheartedly with your view on the hype and meaninglessness around the term hyperlocal. In part, it's what inspired me to write this post - the fervor and frequency at which this concept is being heralded as the answer to the media industry's woes I find concerning.
Hi Keith, You also might want
Hi Keith,
You also might want to take a look at Jan Schaffer's report on Citizen Media that came out in 07 and has very relevant information:
Citizen Media: Fad or Future of News?
I understand that Jan's working up some new information on the field as there have been many changes and advances since '07....
As for the GateHouse v. NYTCo. suit, I wouldn't worry too much about a "chilling effect": this is a case between two very big media companies, and the relationship is very complex. Also, the agreement does NOT discourage linking or deep linking. If it were to discourage linking, then there is the potential for a "chilling effect" But think of it this way: would you like a site that has political views you do not agree with, or that is making money off of your RSS feed to continue to aggregate it? IMO, I want the ability to tell a site I do not support that they must remove my feed. The suit may have been necessary for NYTCo. to remove GateHouse's feed. And if they don't get "traffic" then that's their loss (if it is a loss at all--we don't really know. no logs, no proof of lost traffic.)
This is an excellent start,
This is an excellent start, Keith!
One thing I would say is that hyperlocal predates 2005. Sites like Universal Hub have been around at least since 2003, Baristanet, 2004. Much of the early work was done by independents; 2005 is when news organizations started to pick it up, and when VCs started to fund ventures like Backfence. Personally, I think you can't really talk about hyperlocal without including Craigslist, either.
A great person to ask would be Peter Krasilovsky, I bet he could give an excellent timeline.
It's also useful to note that local sites exist in what I think of as a "keyword world." In a sense, search engines systematically discriminate against local sites, particularly if the search engine is guided by inbound linking behavior. A "keyword friendly" site like Engadget probably does better, in relative terms, than a local site with similar traffic, in terms of how it ranks on search engines, simply because Engadget is likely to have more inbound links. The net is great about "what" -- the next step is to be great about "where."
As you point out, providing local information the way it has typically been sourced in the past is expensive; aggregation is cheaper. But not everyone is friendly to aggregation; see the recent Gatehouse v. NYT case.
Thanks so much for the
Thanks so much for the response, Lisa. My intention here - which may have become a little muddled as I was doing my research - was to focus on the term "hyperlocal" and hype around it. I certainly watched and applauded the success of sites like h20town and craigslist prior to 2005 and have footnoted my post to clarify.
Thanks for the link to Peter and the great point about inbound linking. I wonder if this is another benefit to aggregators like topix as they sit on one domain across multiple locations.
Personally, I'm concerned about the chilling effect of Gatehouse v NYT. While there are misuses of online content, aggregation feels like a critically important aspect in helping hyperlocal blossom.
Hyperlocal is elusive. Keith
Hyperlocal is elusive.
Keith - Peter Graham forwarded me your recent post. Long time no see. I hope that you are well.
I agree with your thoughts on "hyperlocal" - even though we are still pushing forward on a platform that tries to equip local people with publishing capabilities! We had thought that local business owners might have the desire to publish content in order to create a presence and online community for themselves within local markets. They seem excited by the idea and register with intention - but they don't follow through with content. I think that there exists some impetus for content creation value at the local business owner level but we have not got it right, yet.
Of course, our problem could be that we are looking at a two-sided market: we need enough consumers to push business owners to post and we need need enough business owner content in order to draw in people. Two sided markets need a catalyst or a critical mass. Again, we haven't got it yet.
I look forward to your future posts on "hyperlocal". It's a great topic and one that needs more thought.
One company that seems to be
One company that seems to be nailing the local biz owner content creation thing is Hubspot. They've targeted a good vertical and rightly focus on helping streamline the business effort while measuring results. Anyhow, they're growing and that says a lot.
As to two-sided markets around online community building, I would look at broad trends across tools and companies. You see some success in certain verticals and around certain passionate topics and products. We've definitely learned in public broadcasting that using content to drive community isn't the catalyst we thought, but we've discovered other interesting engagement drivers.
I'm working on a follow-up to
I'm working on a follow-up to this focusing on the future of hyperlocal: where untapped potential lies, what might be most successful moving forward, and new factors such as the economy that will affect the hyperlocal trend.
I'd love to respond to your thoughts and ideas if you are willing to share them.
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