AR&D - Audience Research and Development

Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog    

11/02/2006 Entry: "Attack of the hyperlocal outsiders"

When I write that the real Media 2.0 business disruption for broadcasters is the personal media revolution fueled by outside internet pureplay companies, the assumption is that these people are after local advertising dollars. Gordon Borrell projects that as overall online ad revenues continue to increase, the split between local and national dollars will reach parity by 2009 (it's about 70% national currently). In order for that to happen, local ad spending online will be exploding, and while this is good for local media, it's also a target for the Googles, Yahoos and MySpaces of the world.

The big boys are either doing this themselves or buying up smaller companies who've created nice applications for the local space. Everywhere I look, I see new businesses springing up that are built to appeal to people at the local level, and this is a very dangerous proposition for incumbent local media players -- many of whom think we have time to sort all of this out. We don't.

One new entry into this space is Outside.in, a wonderfully conceived piece of software that has the potential to really disrupt local media. I'll let my visionary friend George Johnson tell you about it:

It’s built around many of the driving principles and tools of the social web: blogs, geographic and category tags, providing users with tools to generate results that are as specific and relevant as possible, and the recognition that content, specifically hyperlocal content, has a long tail. The last conceit and core principle of outside.in is the most compelling part of the application. Johnson (founder Steven Johnson) explains:

Local news often has a long-shelf life. One thing both blogs and traditional newspapers share is that they are organized around time, with the latest news given priority. But a lot of neighborhood information is news that stays news: a parent's comment about the science program at a local school is just as relevant six months after it was posted; a guide to gay-friendly bars could be useful for years. That's why outside.in is designed not just as a "latest headlines" service; it's also an evolving neighborhood encyclopedia, capturing all the things that have been said about specific places.

Outside.in aggregates hyperlocal content (posts written by hyperlocal bloggers and tagged by geography)...And...is driven by select content written by authors with specific knowledge of what’s going on in their own back yard and a demonstrated ability to report it in a compelling way whether they're amateur or professional.

The result is a relevant and engaging experience driven by place.