The Future of Local Information: Where’s the Opportunity?

As newspapers work to redefine their role in the online information world, here’s a thought…  why not become the hub for hyper-local information in your area? Yes, your locally produced content will play a big role in this.  Your syndicated national news has a place in this world as well. But why not welcome and embrace the independent voices that are producing content in your area and welcome them into the fold as well?

The initial response to this is “We already do that. Our website has comment spaces and community blogs.  We post on twitter and Facebook.  We’re all over social media.”

But that’s not quite what I am talking about.  Moderated comments, repeat postings via multiple channels, and event calendar submissions via email work to a degree.  They get some people involved or make some content more accessible.

Instead, what we’re talking about here is providing a platform for collecting and distributing all information essential to a community. A platform populated by anyone with useful content and tapping the diverse mediums being used to share hyper-local information: tweets, blogs, wall postings, location-based data, etc. The future can not be defined by simply defending proprietary information and copyrights.  Nor can it be about excluding valuable voices that want to be included.  The future will be about making all the information people need more accessible and easier to consume.

Finding, including and delivering hyper-local content will create an online future that can derive revenue from current investments through increased pageviews while also creating new advertising opportunities.  The first company in a community to establish this type of platform will have a distinct advantage.

It doesn’t just have to be the newspaper.  A TV or radio station, a community service organization, or even a city government could also lead this charge – newspapers just make sense because of their history as the nexus of community information in the age of print media.  The first company in a community to do this, and to do it right, will have a huge lead on the competition.  In fact, once it is effectively established, the competition will likely be asking to get involved. By providing a common place for local voices, organizations and even local government can be tapped to add their information too. You not only own the platform where all of the information is posted, but attract additional audience members with each entity that adds information.

This is the concept we have been working on at Balaya, and are delivering via our desktop tool, tick-it®.  If you haven’t seen tick-it yet, check it out here.

We’ve recently added a new feature to tick-it that allows a community to aggregate and promote hyper-local information, making engaging blog, twitter, and other content easier to find and enjoy.  We’re piloting this community hub concept with the Savannah Morning News via their tick-it and are already seeing positive results.

If you work for a media company and are interested in exploring the concept for your publication, let us know here. Become the online nexus for your community with tick-it.

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