Critical Points Missed in New Hyperlocal Ebook

Last week I purchased a new ebook from Adam Westbrook called Newsgathering for Hyperlocal Websites. I’m interested in the subject of hyperlocal blogging and the time was right for an ebook of this sort to emerge.

2010 will most definitely show a huge increase in the amount of hyperlocal blogs being created, however I have one very serious issue with Adam’s new ebook which is this.

Newsgathering for Hyperlocal Websites completely neglects to mention anything about how to monetize a hyperlocal website.

This is an absolutely critical part of running and maintaining a long term hyperlocal blog. Building an audience and making money is vital… Unless that is you’re working for a traditional news agency giving you a monthly paycheck.

This is my first issue with the new ebook.

My second issue is that on top of being very UK centric (which Adam does acknowledge) this ebook is still very journalism 1.0 in it’s approach covering media. It does mention a few aspects of journalism 2.0 but not much to build upon.

The days of covering the local beat with stories like: Lost Dog Found, City Decides to Clean Up Abandoned Parking Lot and Drinking and Driving Rates Arrests are Up this Year are coming to an end…and quickly.

This is old style media and old style reporting …which is BORING to say the least.

Social Media is paving the way of the future with new stories that are more personal, written by the audience, filled with comments, rants and direct feedback which allows for more than one point of view to be represented. The traditional newsdesk editor will no longer exist, not even as an editor of a hyperlocal website.

The new generation of web journalists are not after the stories of the past. They want the true inside scoop, and they have the networks and tools to quickly find these stories by doing much more than running something as simple as a news desk.

Crowd sourced, social networked, real time comments, blog feeds, videos, mobile phone apps, skype interviews and reality reviews and polls are taking the place of traditional news. Not just to deliver the news but to be the voice of the people.

This also goes to include another critical point which again was neglected.

Get Specialized!!

If you want to create, maintain and profit on a hyperlocal blog you need to choose a specialty and stick with it.

• Where to Eat
• What to Do
• Who to Meet

Find something to write about that people really care about and are willing to revisit time and time again.

If you want the weather, see your iPhone. If you really care about local sports go to the high school website. If you want to know about recent criminal activity download the local police report online. City updates and news, see the website and watch meetings and minutes online.

The future is changing much faster than we can expect and with this change will come an entirely new level of citizen media involvement. One of the biggest aspects that this all then points to is that the myth that anyone person can cover the hyperlocal beat is simply false.

This then leads me to my fourth and final conclusion. What’s happening online involves four things critical elements:

• Transparency
• Disclosure
• Connectivity
• Mobility

Setting up a hyperlocal website is not a singular activity and it surely cannot be done for free.

Putting together both a plan for how you will make money and then on top of that utilize the many eyes and ears within your community to create hyperlocal media will be part of the ongoing solution.

In conclusion the ebook is a good start, but not something that I think anyone who is actively running a hyperlocal blog or trying to make a living off of a hyperlocal blog will benefit from. This is not to say that Adam doesn’t have some good idea on how to source information. His ideas are good but… the applications to get the same results with new methods currently exists!

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