The partnership between the Seattle Times and a group of Seattle community news blogs has drawn national attention and praise and helped put the Pacific Northwest on the map as one of the leading areas for media industry innovation.
But most large company hyperlocal efforts have not been hits. We've noted the poorly planned attempts of big media attempting to scale down to hyperlocal community news before. I recently had the opportunity to talk with a high ranking employee at a big media operation who is involved in rolling out a cookie-cutter effort to create neighborhood sites across a metro region. This is what I learned.
I can't name the employee, the city or the organization because I don't want him or her to get in trouble -- and most of what I learned would definitely cause some furrowed brows in upper management. But I can tell you that all of this is exactly as I heard it as I talked with the employee recently as we discussed their next 'big' effort in the space.
Meet Employee H. For Hyperlocal. Employee H says the big media effort to go 'hyperlocal' is failing.
"I want to keep my job," Employee H said. "But I don't know why we are doing this. It doesn't make any sense."
"We can't compete on news. We're trying to focus on commentary but I don't know if that will work," Employee H said.
Employee H said there is almost no plan for how to fill these sites with content. "The free contributors start out strong," Employee H said. "But eventually they stop contributing. They have no reason to continue. I don't know what we'll do later."
"So why not scale back?" I ask. Why not tell management that this won't work without real investment in reporting resource and a true dedication to covering news?
"The plan is to be in all neighborhoods," Employee H said. "I don't know why."
Ad sales must be driving this, I tell her.
"I don't know about ad sales," Employee H says. "It doesn't seem like we're selling to the same types of businesses you are."
That's for certain. A quick review of Employee H's sites shows very few of the types of businesses you'll find on the successful indie news sites operating in the same neighborhoods. Instead you'll find offers for work at home schemes and weight loss programs.
But weak monetization might not matter -- this big media hyperlocal effort, at least, is fading. "I don't how long we'll do this," Employee H said. "There are so many other problems for our business right now. I'm just happy to have a paycheck."
