When talking with people considering joining the Neighborlogs beta -- btw, you should consider joining the Neighborlogs beta if you are thinking about starting a neighborhood blog or want to transition your existing site to a service geared to your needs -- I sometimes feel like I'm describing those old Total breakfast cereal commercials. You'd have to eat 8 bowls of blah blah blah to get the nutrition in one bowl of Total!
But we do have a lot of goodness packed into the Neighborlogs service. We have a solution that provides ten essentials of a hyperlocal news and info site:
- A simple-to-use but powerful blog editor
- Integrated community
- Advertising system that is flexible and has self-serve features
- Enabled for third party advertising systems
- Content tools and features like mobile posting and interactive maps
- Enabled for inclusion of third party technologies embeds and scripts
- Hosting and technical support for database and backend technologies
- Events calendar updated by community
- A classifieds solution
- A business directory with community elements
To create a similar experience, a site owner will need to cobble together several separate technologies to create a hyperlocal site.
Here's a handy diagram:
And that's only some of the main items to be concerned about. Add in things like solid site search, RSS feeds (and RSS feed advertising), and site design and you still won't have covered every piece of the hyperlocal puzzle. Check out Journalism 2.0's Web site wishlist for more.
So, how to choose your path? I'll be the first to say that Neighborlogs isn't for every editor looking to build a local news and information site. Many will want to seek independent tools and work with friends and colleagues who can help them build their sites. There are great examples here in Seattle of sites taking that route like Wallyhood.org and the Rainier Valley Post.
But we also believe that there is a need to bring these technologies together in a packaged solution that enables individuals and small teams to build great sites without investing time and effort in piecing solutions together. If a sounds like a path you are interested in, register for our beta, drop me a line at justin at instivate or give me a call at (206) 399-5959.
