There are notable shifts occurring in today’s new media. Print journalism and broadcast journalism are experiencing rapid declines in their audiences as consumers increasingly turn to internet sources for their news and information.
The crisis caused by the decline in readers of local newspapers has sparked a flood of innovation online. Entrepreneurs, journalists and concerned citizens are creating new business models by offering niche news sites that appeal to a very specific geographic area. These are called hyperlocal sites and they are multiplying fast.
Many people are living in communities that have a struggling local newspaper. The desire for people to get the news they want has not diminished, but many people are not being served the local content needed to inform their communities due to declining budgets.
There is a void here that can be filled by you. You can get directly involved with hyperlocal news today, and it is not as difficult as you might think.
1) Find Your Passion
Communities are suffering as local newspapers cut staff reporters and attempt to focus on larger, area-wide stories for their readers. Many local newspapers can no longer compete with new technologies that are meant to increase access.
The need for information about your local sports team, restaurants, politicians, business and organizations still exists.
These voids in local coverage can be replaced by quality hyperlocal citizen journalism. It starts with you discovering your local passion.
Do you enjoy your local restaurants? Are you a sports fanatic and love your local sports teams? How about politics? Do you know your local politicians and do you have an interest in covering them? How about local businesses and events? These are all areas that are vital to a community’s livelihood and cannot possibly be thoroughly covered by today’s transitional local media.
Give it some thought and find your local passion.
2) Consider Your Location
One of the main advantages of hyperlocal is that passionate local citizens are writing about people, places, events and businesses they know well.
You should begin by deciding your boundaries and setup your perimeter. You want to smart small, and as you become more comfortable and your resources grow, then you can expand.
Open up Google Maps and use the My Maps feature to help you visualize and mark these areas in your city.
3) Express Yourself
There are a small but growing number of sites online that can help you get started with your local publishing.
You can start small by reviewing your local businesses and events on the user-review social site Yelp, or start writing lengthier topic-based articles on the hyperlocal news network Examiner.
Sites such as GroundReport, NowPublic and AllVoices provide publishing platforms that will help you distribute your reports.
An innovative site called Spot.Us will allow you to seek funding for overlooked and important local topics. They are proving to be pioneers in the arena of community funded reporting.
Finally, you can use services such as Patch, EveryBlock and outside.in to see if your local content is beginning to be curated and shared.
Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ricoslounge / CC BY-ND 2.0
