Apr 14, 2010

On air with The Hyperlocalist

I don’t care what the Pew people pollsters say about radio’s decline in the news ecosystem. I still think it’s a good way to reach underserved communities that live off the grid, as well as Silicon Valley techies sitting in slow California traffic. And that’s where guest blogger and fellow hyperlocalist Dan Hugo steps in.

When you think “hyperlocal” or “community journalism,” you probably think blogs, newspaper-style articles or some sort of written word — I did. Clearly this is not the only way to go, and in August 2009 my colleague Kevin Fox and I tried a new angle on hyperlocal media in a project called Radio Sunnyvale (Calif.).

It wasn’t “real” radio at first, though we did toss around the idea of somehow getting our content broadcast somewhere in the area. We started off on my couch with “The Dan and Kevin Show” and talked about simple things, including the warning horns on the Caltrain that would pass by during our podcast recordings. By October 2009, our programming had diversified with city-council candidate interviews, special segments, and a well-received interview with the city manager.

Because our programming was not bound by time slots, hard breaks, and FCC regulations, we would post our content as recorded, without looking for sound bites or removing what we felt might be boring. If someone had something to say, we would put it up. Bringing as many people as possible to the table was the general idea.

We were well received — one operator of low-power AM radio offered to take us from a podcast to an on-air broadcast — but we were not necessarily well timed. With the declining economy, even the most supportive of Sunnyvaleans were not able or interested in contributing cash to the cause. Real interest did not translate to financial support. Even with our negligible operating budget, there was a need to pay the founders so that they might continue to reside in the city of interest. Ultimately, this was our undoing.

A traditional advertiser-funded model might have worked in an established medium, but visionary funding is needed when trying something new. A reasonable economy may have made that more likely. Creating a nonprofit entity probably makes sense, and we seriously considered making a community advisory board to keep the effort community-driven, at least in part.

Radio-style programming in the hyperlocal space is an exciting opportunity despite the financial difficulties we encountered in our first go. A better business plan, segmented shows, and a solid user interface for our podcasts are things we would attack first if we had to do it again. Also, a better way to measure our audience size would have given us more momentum when approaching potential advertisers.

Enabling real voices and real discussions without editing is a powerful proposition that builds trust between the community and its media efforts, as well as between people within the community. The discussion can flow and it can reach people who want to participate. There is still much to be done. To be continued?

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Burnt Pixel.

Apr 13, 2010

All the news that’s fit to text

My mother, a first-generation American like my father, made this observation a few years ago: Everyone in the old country communicates via text message. Calloused thumbs are the norm, regardless of age or social status. And if an event isn’t announced via text, then it’s as if it never happened.

That’s how things roll, not just in my parents’ country of birth but across a big swath of the planet, according to The New York Times. Outside the United States, text messaging is used to find jobs, transfer funds, even monitor elections for fraud. These people don’t worry about broadband service for their iThingies, as long as the cell phone towers keep pumping out the juice.

I’m willing to bet that if people abroad are texting like fiends, their emigre counterparts in the United States are doing the same. They’re reconnecting with friends in the motherland and making new connections here, all via text messaging. Why shouldn’t they receive hyperlocal news in the same way?

Unfortunately, there are a few hurdles to that, namely the cost to send and receive text messages in the United States. AT&T charges $20 per month for unlimited texting on top of its smartphone data plans, and Verizon has a text-heavy plan for $35 each month, excluding voice telephony. Compare that with the one-cent text rate offered by one Indian carrier, The Times reported.

Another sticking point is the need to send bulk messages from a single source. Google Voice and Twitter allow a few text messages for free, but broadcasting more will require a paid account with SMS Everywhere or some other service. It’s possible to have a sponsor shoulder this cost for the hyperlocal outlet, but it doesn’t dodge the next hurdle.

And that is: What kind of information should be sent via text? Should the standard 160-character message contain only a headline with a link? Will the recipient follow that link to the full story? If yes, will the full story appear in a mobile-friendly format?

Also, in what language should the text and full story appear? If the goal is to reach immigrants, then the content probably should appear in their primary language. This might mean the cost of hiring an interpreter who not only can convert an English-language story into some other tongue, but can text the story using that language’s colloquial abbreviations and acronyms.

There are kinks to texting news content, but I still think it’s worth exploring if the objective is to deliver news to traditionally underserved immigrant communities.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user daveblume.

Apr 7, 2010

You remember print, right?

For all the the talk of how the internet and the iThingy will save journalism, there’s one thing that computer technology can’t do: deliver information to people who exist off the grid.

Some of them can’t afford a computer or monthly internet service charges. Others don’t bother with the English-heavy net because they speak some other language. Still others live beyond the cable company’s reach. Whether by choice or necessity, these people just don’t do the web.

That doesn’t mean they should go without access to community news. What it means is hyperlocalists must apply a different approach to news distribution, even if that means using technology that’s distinct from their primary mode.

One form of news distribution familiar to non-techies is probably print. (There’s also broadcast, but I’ll get into that later this week.) Most online hyperlocalists use broadsheets only as marketing material — it’s much cheaper than handing out free iPads to prospective readers. Recently, California Watch printed an investigative report for distribution and promotion, and I’ve done similar stuff with content from my former hyperlocal site.

But what if the broadsheet were to become a regular thing for online outlets? Obviously, printing content with the same immediacy as posting online would be expensive, perhaps prohibitively so. But a daily or weekly broadsheet should be enough to deliver news in a timely way.

Also, broadsheets don’t necessarily have to be fliers given to individual readers. Back in the day, broadsheets were single, poster-sized sheets of paper posted in town squares and gathering spots. The same can be done today at coffee shops, supermarkets, transit stations, houses of worship, or the shop windows of supportive businesses. (Perhaps those supportive businesses can even pay for printing costs in exchange for the foot traffic the broadsheet might bring.)

I haven’t compared the cost of printing a single large sheet versus a stack of letter-sized fliers. But posting one big broadsheet certainly would cut down on the cost and energy required to distribute fliers to individual readers.

The best part: no net neutrality required.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Dorrell Merritt.

Apr 5, 2010

Back on the grid

It only took ten days to move into my new hyperlocal digs, but alas, it’s done. For nearly two weeks, I lived on pizza and cheese sandwiches, burst digital bubbles on my signal-less cell phone, and wrestled an aerial antenna for a better reception of “Jerry Springer.”

For hard-core techies, that scene signals the end of civilization. But my temporary disconnect from online reality gave me a greater appreciation for real reality, the one that exists (and it does) beyond the internet.

It also allowed me to consider how hyperlocalists can better serve the underserved — and by underserved, I’m not just talking about plugged-in communities without a local newspaper or news website. I’m talking about communities that don’t even appear on the grid: lower-income neighborhoods without broadband, communities in which English is not the primary language, even sparsely populated rural communities.

The net might not penetrate those areas, but hyperlocalists can still serve them using different, even “primitive” technologies. Expect the next few blog posts to look into this idea.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Spikenzie.

Mar 23, 2010

When social media becomes free marketing

Yesterday, I bitched about businesses that were always on the lookout for free advertising from the local media. Now I’m telling fellow hyperlocalists this: When an opportunity comes up to promote your news outlet for free or cheap, jump all over it. Just remember that nothing’s ever really free.

One of the best ways for online hyperlocal organizations to market their stuff on the cheap is via social networking. (I don’t know if print-only outlets find it as useful.) However, an online analyst wrote last week that the type of information consumed depends on the social network being used. Facebookers tend to link to broadcast media for whatever reason, while Tweeters link to other social networks and photo- and video-sharing sites.

Either way, these social networks should be used as more than just RSS feeds. Instead, they should be extensions of a media outlet’s brand. And that’s where the “free isn’t really free” comes into play. Successful marketing via social media requires lots of work, but it can also pay off in a big way.

For example, the Twitter feed to my former hyperlocal news site offered followers more than just links to newly minted articles. I linked to other outlets’ stories, forwarded funny photos from the neighborhood, and most importantly, gave readers a peek into how my publication’s articles were researched and written.

Admittedly, some tweets were mundane. But some really shared the stupid, lonely and fun hyperlocalist experience, and I credit this personal interaction for a 40-percent jump in readership in 2009:

“Citizens advisory board is voting on whether or not to vote.”

“Going for coffee. Who wants?”

“Researching new donut shop on Fenton Street.”

Likewise, the outlet’s Facebook fan page and Tumblr page offered readers previously unpublished photos and videos, entertaining stories from other local publications, and announcements to special events. I don’t think Facebook did much to boost readership, but it did offer some demographic information on who my readers were. The Tumblr page did even less, but the project was a fun extension of my website’s brand.

Personally, I don’t pay any mind to Facebook’s “contextual” ads, and more power to Twitter if it can tap into that revenue stream. Their power as marketing tools are worth a quick glimpse at an advertisement — even a small fee for business users — and the sweat off my brow.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user zyphichore.

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