New Report on Hyperlocal News in UK

Collaboration between AHRC-funded projects in the UK has led to a report on the status and viability of hyperlocal community news.  Some key findings:

• UK community news sector is well-established, with nearly three-quarters of players producing news for 3 years or longer (one-third doing so for more than 5 years)
• 70% see what they do as a form of active community participation; half identify their activities as local journalism, half as an expression of active citizenship
• More than half have formal journalistic training or mainstream media experience
• Most hyperlocal news sites have modest reach, even in their local communities

• Most community news producers classify their activities as part-time (only 11% report spending 40 hrs/wk or more on producing community news).  Also, most producers fund their projects themselves - only a quarter raise enough money to cover their costs.

Source :  UK Hyperlocal Community News: Findings from a survey of practitioners. Research report

Hyperlocalism & Mobile

A UK study sponsored by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) found that demand for hyperlocal content in being driven by the growing penetration of mobile devices.

"Both the reach and the consumption of hyperlocal content has been accelerated by smartphones," Jon Kingsbury, Nesta's programme director for creative economy. "And of course smart phones know where you are, so we think that offers a huge potential to hyperlocal publishers to make opportunities out of the fact that GPS-enabled devices might be a way of helping people find their content."

The study is part of an effort to support the growth of hyperlocal content and media, particularly in the areas of news and public information.
Hyperlocal Media are Used.  The survey found that two-thirds of adults in the UK expressed an interest in news and information about "the immediate area in which they currently live."  More than half (53%) of Internet users report having accessed hyperlocal media at some point.  Among those who indicated that they had used some or all of the hyperlocal media sites listed, roughly one-third indicated daily use, and another third reported weekly use.  Interestingly, 8% reported using hyperlocal media to get information about areas where they used to live.

Mobile Devices and Hyperlocal Interest.  Interest in, and use of, hyperlocal media was highest among owners of connected mobile devices (laptops, smartphones, tablets).  People who own smartphones and tablets are the most likely to indicate using hyperlocal on a daily basis.  More than half (55%) of those reporting using hyperlocal media more often now than they did two years ago indicate that their increased use was driven by getting a smartphone and/or tablet.  More than a quarter (28%) of hyperlocal media users reported that they have used apps to access hyperlocal content.
Sources for Hyperlocal Content.  More than half of hyperlocal media users report using search engines to find and access hyperlocal content.  About a quarter cite using websites or apps of local media (in the UK that means newspapers and magazines), and 30% go to websites created by local governments and agencies.  The study found that, at least for now, there was little use of specialized stand-alone providers.  Only 17% report using social media for hyperlocal content, and they use it primarily for timely information - weather, sports scores, etc..
Hyperlocal Content Drivers.  Hyperlocal media use seems to be predominantly driven by functional needs for localized information.  Half of users report getting local weather information, 41% are seeking local breaking news, almost a third (32%) are seeking local entertainment information or info on local bars, restaurants, and clubs (29%), and more than a quarter  (27%) use it for information on community events.  Convenience (59%) and free cost (45%) are also important factors - and a third indicate that they think hyperlocal media are more up-to-date, accurate, reliable, and comprehensive than other media outlets.  Respondents also indicated that while hyperlocal media kept them informed about their neighborhood, it was much less likely to motivate involvement (doesn't increase their influence or help develop new friendships).
Demographics.  There are age and income differences in hyperlocal media users.  Those in the 35-54 age group are the most likely to be hyperlocal users.  There are also significant differences among age groups, and between rural and urban residents, in terms of the types of hyperlocal information sought.

"The other thing that really came out in the research is that people expect traditional media brands to provide very very local content. When we asked them where they would look for very very local content they were much more likely to look to existing or traditional brands, like broadcasters and traditional local newspapers, than they were to hyperlocal blogs."

Sources -  Study: Hyperlocal demand driven by mobile devices,  Journalism.co.uk
UK Demand for Hyperlocal Media Research Report, Nesta research report

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Near Field Communications shows promise

One of the hot topics at this year's CES is Near Field Communication (NFC), a technology that brings very short-range wireless communications to mobile apps.  NFC is the technology empowering mobile e-commerce systems like Google Wallet, and can also be used to display info on nearby items to consumers.  It's also being incorporated into conference technologies to identify participants and as a "virtual business card" exchange.  Industry sources predict that the technology will be built into up to a half billion high-end smartphones by 2015.

A big issue for now is the fact that current NFC systems are not encrypted, making it a bit of a concern for e-commerce uses and consumer privacy.  Still, as NFC systems improve and diffuse, it should join GPS-enabled mobile devices to offer a range of hyperlocal services.

Sources:  CES 2012's Big Sleeper: Near Field Communications,  InformationWeek
IT Pro Impact: NFC and Mobile Commerce, InformationWeek Reports

Future of Small-Scale Radio

A new research report has been issued on the achievements and potential of small-scale (community) radio;  The study finds that such services tend to be highly valued by their listeners, offering a local identity, quirky entertainment, and hyperlocal information.  While the study focuses on small-scale radio in the U.K., the lessons are appropriate for any hyperlocal/"small scale" media project.
The full study report can be found at http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/radio-research/smallradio.pdf

Gannett closes Hyper-Local Online News efforts in NJ

Major newspaper group owner Gannett has been one of the leaders among exploring the use of highly-focused and hyper-local online news sites operated in conjunction with traditional print newspapers.  Layoffs within the local Gannett papers were given as the primary reason for closing the sites, all of which operated under the larger InJersey.com site.  While the site's still up, no new material will be posted.
InJersey.com was launched in 2009, with hyper-local sites opened in more than a dozen towns by the end of 2010.  The hope was that the hyper-local sites would generate local interest and local contributions, with a goal of 50% of content coming from user contributions, the rest from 6 full-time reporters assigned to InJersey.com.  However, user-generated content rarely exceeded 10%, and the hyperlocal sites failed to generate the audience numbers needed for the sites to be supported through online display advertising. 
Ted Mann, who started InJersey for Gannett, perhaps gave a hint of the problem when he commented:

"From what I've seen on our sites, and several others, I don't see how display advertising is going to be enough to support a hyperlocal ... but I do think there are a lot of other revenue streams that hyperlocals can build - running events, sponsoring things, selling merchandise."

It seems that Gannett's approach to hyperlocals, in this case, was an extension of the currently troubled print model: looking to professionals for content, and for a combination of local, regional, and national display ad sales for revenue.  Mann mentioned the ways that hyperlocal news sites could gain revenues, yet it seems that Gannett relied on its own newspaper sales force to sell only display ads - with little incentive to spend the time in smaller communities, or with local businesses, to build up local ad sales.  And little interest in thinking how else a hyperlocal site could generate revenues.
While Mann hoped for significant local contributions, it also seemed that there was an sense of wanting to maintain a professional news focus - both in quality and in the types of content they were looking for. Potential community contributors were asked to register and attend training sessions or workshops before they could submit "news stories" without having to go through an editor.  Even then, editors "would give feedback and cultivate story ideas."  This suggests that the InJersey.com focus was on controlling the flow of content and topics, keeping the focus on appropriate "news", rather than letting content emerge organically from the community.  One staffer commented that people in the community she covered posted photos, notes, and short stories on community Facebook and Twitter sites, instead of their InJersey.com hyperlocal site.  Her thought was that the hyperlocal site should exploit social media, missing the point that posting on social media is easy, open, unfiltered - and often not "newsworthy" in a traditional sense, much less fully fleshed out.as a "story".
A report of the closings on the Poynter site concluded that "in hindsight, it's not terribly surprising that InJersey.com couldn't sustain itself."  But based on the factors contributing to their demise, and the lessons learned by many of the more successful hyper-local sites, they offer some lessons for hyperlocals:

• Recognize the time commitment this kind of effort takes, and commit to it
• Recruit staffers who live in the community
• Know the value of your site for local advertisers, and exploit it
• Figure out what motivates your community to contribute

Hyper-local sites can be an important and successful part of the community - but the main lesson is that it needs to be part of the community, its interests and its needs.  Not merely an adjunct to, or an extension of, some outside news organization or media..

Sources:  "Gannett Shutters Hyper-Local NJ Sites," MediaDailyNews
"Gannett layoffs accelerated demise of InJersey hyperlocal news sites,"  Poynter.org