Comments on: EveryBlock Learns Secret to Local News: People

By: Adrian Holovaty

Adrian Holovaty — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:54:02 +0000

mindctrl — Have a look at one of our more vibrant neighborhoods: http://chicago.everyblock.com/locations/neighborhoods/old-irving-park/ . It’s got quite a few local residents talking about highly relevant local topics, and this is only two days after our launch.

I know it’s tough to judge something like EveryBlock because we’re in 16 cities and hundreds of neighborhoods within those cities, and each one has its own set (or lack) of users. I’m sure you checked it in an area that doesn’t have a lot of activity yet. Give us time. We’re just getting started building these communities — the new site is two days old, for gosh sake! :-)

I’ve also gotta stand up for the Internet and disagree with your dressing down of forums. Sure, there’s a lot of low-quality stuff out there, but not everything. We’re having a high-quality conversation here, for example. The Internet can be used for good. Check out a site called Front Porch Forum for a great example at the local level.

As for your “breaking it down into too many categories” — that’s one way to look at it. The other way to look at it is that it’s only a single focus: stuff near you. It’s much more focused and targeted than what you’d find on any mainstream media site.

Adrian @ EveryBlock

By: mindctrl

mindctrl — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:11:54 +0000

All attempts thus far by national companies to do local news in numerous communities have failed because they basically turn into news aggregators and forums. News aggregation is done by Google News now, and it’s not particularly great. It still relies on local organizations and disinterested nationals to do the news that they aggregate. And forums are… well… forums. They turn into low quality stuff generally.

You can’t crowdsource “news”. You end up with reviews and opinions, and that’s not news. “Real” _local_ news is very hard to pull off for national companies without a true presence in the community. The only way to do it is by hiring locals in these communities.

EveryBlock doesn’t look like news to me. It looks like a content aggregator that’s pulling in public data (inspections, permits, etc), reviews, and is diluting its worth by breaking it down into too many categories. The interface is hard to use and _real_ content discovery is painful.

If a national company is going to pull off “local news”, it is going to have to hire real local people with a real interest in their community and have boots in the streets. I don’t see it working any other way. Otherwise you’re simply an aggregator with social commenting features.

Sorry Adrian, but that’s my “review”.

By: Ray

Ray — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:45:09 +0000

Interesting article. I am going to agree with what M said, I am not concerned with what Joe Public thinks as a whole either. Like Sue, the way a site you mentioned, Topix, does things destroys communities and tends to make them all come across in a negative fashion. On the other hand if it is something like Disqus or LiveFrye, a few comments isn’t a bad thing, but what I am really looking for is legitimate news, not who is sleeping with who, entertainment events, etc. I also don’t think that every zipcode nees a local news site. Some towns are small and don’t have much going on. The person who lives in small town America needs to spend their entertainment dollars in midsized towns and cities. That is where the focus needs to be, not providing some forum for a small town in Montana or wherever.

By: Sue

Sue — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 12:32:42 +0000

It definitely has potentional as long as it figures out you have to have some rules and decorum. Topix, while perhaps successful to a degree is not considered a news aggregator by most because there is very limited news on its sites. It has become one of the most vile, disgusting places on the internet because many of the forums are nothing but straight up gossip and attacks on people. It isn’t many political leaders being attacked, it is children, business owners, etc because the site has something like 400,000 forums but only a handful of moderators and they don’t require registration. They are constantly being subpoened and a ton of negative press is coming out about them. This past week a county down in Tennessee passed an ordinance trying to do something about them. I tell you this to make a point. Some small towns simply don’t have enough news to justify every zipcode needing something like that and for those that do there has to be some rules and regulations or you end up with a trash site which totally goes against what a legit company needs to do.

By: Victor Dweck

Victor Dweck — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:25:55 +0000

After reading article (very informative, good job) and visiting the site, I don’t think the service offers a set of features that worthily differentiates itself from stronger competition. Its functions are redundant of just about every social media site. Further, its redesign doesn’t seem to have a revolutionary effect on the way its content will be considered once consumed in comparison to other sites.

With that said, the service that takes a radical approach to local news delivery and consumption will be the one to truly change the way we interact at the hyper-local level.

By: Mathew Ingram

Mathew Ingram — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 18:30:16 +0000

There’s definitely a downside to that kind of interaction, but I think for many people that is what communities and neighborhoods are all about — for better or worse.

By: mindctrl

mindctrl — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:40:17 +0000

Adrian, nice try. :)

There’s a big difference in reviews and news. Nationals have always been the map distributors. Yahoo? Does anyone use Yahoo? :)

By: Adrian Holovaty

Adrian Holovaty — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:32:19 +0000

mindctrl: So you’re telling me you don’t rely on San-Francisco-based Yelp for restaurant reviews, or Mountain-View-based Google for a map of your neighborhood, or Sunnyvale-based Yahoo for your neighborhood Yahoo Group, right? :-)

Adrian @ EveryBlock

By: mindctrl

mindctrl — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:26:07 +0000

Maybe I’m crazy, but I can’t see any “hyper-local news startup” achieving what should be achieved with local news. These companies are national companies without a core interest in the community, whether they hire some locals or not. Local news needs to be grass roots local companies who live in and care about their communities, who aren’t answering to some disconnected national company.

By: Mathew Ingram

Mathew Ingram — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:55:21 +0000

Yes, I deliberately avoided that — but don’t think I wasn’t tempted :-)