hyperlocal 101

What you think hyperlocal is and why you think the future of it will be so important.
Hyperlocal is essentially the up close study of how society and culture intermingle and connect. It determines how cultures both local, regional, national and global emerge, and it also tracks how culture and society moves.

First off I think there are two main reasons why everything MUST go local.

Number One:
People need intimacy and connection to make sense of their lives. People are by nature social.

If you think about it… when the internet started.. it was called CYPERSPACE.
This was great to go surfing in the vastness… but as it expanded people needed a way to figure it out.

Thus you began to have search engines (kinda like telescopes).
This has worked great for a the time being but 230,983 results in .098 sec doesn’t really hold any relevancy to an audience if they can’t find what they are looking for.

Then social networks then began to appear and people created networks of specialized information. If they were big enough and specialized they were found by the search engines This has solved the first issue of intimacy and connection. (you find the big and bright stars)

The second issue is about specialization and movement.
You can now begin to see this occurring with in social networks as they begin to cluster and build groups within groups.

The bottom line is “HOW DO YOU FIND WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR?”
This will eventually result in what I call Hyper Search.

A very specialized search method which social networks will use to drill down into the core.
If you look at our own society, it also has organized down into hyperlocal aspects so it would be only natural that this would occur online was well.

Example:
Food < Grocery Store < Safeway < Ketsup < Aisle 4 top row 2 mid way down < Heinz < Tomatoes, Sugar, Sucrose, blah blah blah.

What’s at the end of HyperLocal?
Hyperlocal is a big equation, because it is going to establish new boundaries and norms for how we see, move and work with the world and culture around us.

The big issue is about control.

The audience online is continuously changing because it moves. This makes it very difficult for mass media and marketers to capture the revenue that would other wise be trapped within a confined space, such as a town or physical geography.

Example: If you live in a small valley like I do and there is one big newspaper and that’s the way to get your ad out to the public you have one choice.
Now with Craigslist and freecycle this is being challenged.

But who has access to the audience and how? Or as they would say.. WHO OWNS IT?
That is the Trillion Dollar question!!!

Why will most companies fail in achieving a functional hyperlocal model?
This is actually quite simple and straight forward.
HYPERLOCAL is a moving model.

Almost 99% of the existing models out there are based on models which are based on a static geography. Think about it. Your mom lives in Boise, your sister in Dallas, your grandparents in Salt Lake. You travel to these place and each time you travel so does your map of locality. Locality meaning people you know, place you go, things that make sense to your life. That’s all I am going to say for now.

Why mainstream newspapers are losing money?
Ah… I love this question.
Well other than just being totally negative and boring they actually suck.

To begin with they are written with one point of view and in an style which is talking to the boomers and their parents.

But even boomers get on IM and chat nowdays. Here is my suggestion.
NEWS is dynamic as it implies. Put that online for free for all to know - AS IT SHOULD BE

Culture is evolving and has a life all to it’s own.
A new band in town, an interesting interview, a great place to eat. Things that create relevancy to each of our lives…
Put this is print!!! This is what people want to read about anyways.

Good bye hollywood hello local.. I could go on and on about this.
Your sitting on a gold mind and it’s right in front of you.

Tomorrow Hillary Clinton will come to our town, to a hotel my friend manages, more than likely one of our members will get a photograph of her posted online within the hour of it being taken. It’s not just about availability it’s about reality.

Mainstream media represents one point of view, often times capture by people who don’t know jack about the topics they are covering. So give the power to the people and let them tell it how it really is. Represent a point of view which offers diversity. It doesn’t have to be correct it just has to be real.

So to answer your question why are they losing money.
1. The audience is changing
2. The engagement is played out and negative
3. There is better stuff online… and it’s real