Citizen journalism and local sites like Patch and Everyblock

Recently, we saw a couple bigger media companies (AOL and MSN) spend interest and money in start-ups (Patch and Everyblock) who are pursuing the citizen journalism space in neighborhoods or what people like to call hyperlocal content. There are lots of companies in this area, but the ones I pay attention to are Patch, Outside.in, and Everyblock.

There is clearly a big push toward creating original local content and doing it in a way that is scalable (low cost). This is not new, and it's a logical evolution of the personal blog space. What's interesting is that the quality of this local content is improving and there are going to be standards and rating systems that will help filter out the rambling nonsense and identify thoughtful commentary or investigative journalism.

To that end, I believe it is more interesting to watch the other companies that don't fall directly into this space, but who are doing very interesting localized journalism. See ESPN's Dallas version here, see Huffington Post's Chicago version here, and Plum TV covers high-end destinations. They will rely heavily on a video product which in my mind is key. I don't believe the mass market (or more importantly advertisers) have discerning tastes when it comes to the written word, but they certainly know and like when they see beautiful talent, a slick graphics package, framed photography, and a steady camera.

We play in this market because we want to provide premium local content around photo and video based "best of" lists, local guides, and lifestyle and entertainment features. The stuff local magazines do and need to do more efficiently (low cost).

At a corporate level, broadcast groups need to pay attention to these macro citizen journalism trends. This is not high school sports coverage, this is all areas of content. This is most certainly the local broadcasters' turf and local stations cannot and will not compete piecemeal for this opportunity. It requires a new operating model that cannot be figured out in the trenches of day-to-day.