Tag Archives: hyper-local

What Happened? Favorites from 2011 Blog Posts

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By Mark Hanzlik, AWN Executive Director

Since this is the time of year when just about everyone who has a blog or web site publishes a top-10 or best-of list instead of covering real news or offering their usual opinions, I thought it would be a good time to do that same. I say that admitting that I’m as guilty as the next guy and therefore offer some of my favorites from 2011 with a few caveats:

1) The following are not necessarily the best, or biggest of the year but topics that caught my attention.

2) I’m usually biased toward the unusual stories that fly below the radar but often-covered stories can be also interesting if the approach is different or view

3) Opinion pieces seldom hold up and while there is a place for those kinds of stories, I’m taking a pass on those without solid research here.

DIGITAL TECH: Facebook and Spotify were among the year’s hottest digital media companies, covered by AdWeek in their “Top 10 Tech Stories of 2011” in early December.   This one is a no-brainer, Facebook has eclipsed everyone and Spotify was the sleeper that burst into the big-time this year as well.   We often blogged about the Web Radio’s audience growth and ad revenue growth online in 2011, and surely Pandora and Spotify are part of that big story.

FUTURE OF RETAIL: The best story I read this year about the retail biz also came near the end of the year.  “The Future of Retail? Look to Its Past” arrived via Harvard Business Review in what can only be described as HBR’s Blog Forum.   It’s a compelling piece about those in retail embracing technology yet retaining the human aspects of the transaction (i.e. face-to-face interactions, etc.)

DIGITAL TRENDS: AdWeek nailed this one back in October;  offering the six most transformative trends in digital marketing.    We blogged about this important digital story here on our own site on Oct 31st.  The merging of mobile and desktop, and the value of specialized content on the web will resonate the most and will no doubt be important topics in 2012.

HYPER-LOCAL: Coverage of everything Hyper-Local was overwhelming in 2011. Not only was it a buzzword for digital news coverage, geo-targeted advertising and new kind of journalism, it served as the launch pad for the success and failure of AOL’s Patch investment which ended the year on a down note.   We first covered the hyper-local subject in September.

FUTURE OF NEWSPAPERS: This one wasn’t too hard to sort out because every story about newspapers (mobile development, daily deals, Sunday insert conversion to the web, etc.) all pointed to the same future. I’ll go with recent release by USC Annenberg School of Communication & Journalism Study which will be fully issued in January titled “Is America at a Digital Turning Point?” Numerous magazines, alternative publications, radio and television stations all jumped on this story and declared death will come quickly “Newspapers Dead Within Five Years.”

We’re ready for another year of changes in media, advertising and digital, tracking all the pluses and minuses.  I hope all the positive changes in 2011 bode well for the year to come.

Hyper-Local is Just Another Word

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By Mark Hanzlik, Executive Director

When you hear a new phrase repeated over-and-over, it usually means there’s a fair amount of warm wind behind it and often it’s nothing more than a catchphrase.   The buzz-worthy  “hyper-local” seems to fit that description well.

obituary-e1310334767350In the media business, “hyper-localism” is really nothing new.   Anyone who’s ever read a local newspaper to find out who has recently croaked, been busted, or why your favorite local eatery has served their last meal knows what hyper-localism is.

I started my short-lived newspaper career reporting Little League games in the  Novato Advance, a weekly with less than 5,000 circulation.   It wasn’t until many years later when I sat across the table negotiating ad rates with Gannett big shots that I realized how valuable my local experience in Novato had been.

Hyper-local =  Hyperbole

Judy Muller, a USC journalism professor writes today in the L.A. Times about the importance of local weeklies and the current state of the newspaper industry.

I found it refreshing to hear Ms. Muller’s inspired thoughts about small-town publishing in the face of such depressing print publishing news that is served up hourly on every media front.    She points out in her Op-Ed, these journalists often must be sporting some kahunas to be writing about folks so close-to-home.   I agree, that’s probably another reason I abandoned a journalism career early- after a number of editorial reprimands.

Don Rowlett, the one-time CEO, President of Ross Stores, sat in front of his management team in the early 1980’s exhorting the value of local media, and community newspapers in particular.   He didn’t use the phrase “hyper-local” but everything else that was said in connection to that notion was not unlike the mantra we’re hearing from so many media (and advertising) professionals today.   His parting words sounded something along these lines, “it has always been about local community and will always be so, regardless of what technological developments occur for individuals.”

There is something to be said about delivering the kind of news that national media outlets can’t be bothered with.  Why else would Patch and so many local independent online journalists be jumping into the local media biz?  It may sound corny (just like most of the local edit) but when it really comes down to it in the end, that’s what people really care about.

Now, what does this mean to those in the alternative news business?  Publishers, editors, online product developers?   Have you thought about your local audience lately?  Where are they headed?  How can you remain a part of their lives?