It's now official: Maplewood-South Orange-Millburn is hyperlocal capital of the world. Just a few weeks ago, we reported that deep-pocketed Patch, which has aspirations of scaling nationally, had set up websites to cover the three towns. Now the New York Times has set up a fiefdom there as well. And of course Maplewood Online has been covering the community for years.
All attention has some longtime users of Maplewood Online scratching their heads. "Seems like a bad business decision to me," says Jazmo. "Maybe we can get the town to limit permits, like they did for nail salons. They're clogging up the internet."
But the conversation about this is going far wider than the enchanted Maplewood Triangle.
The Wall Street Journal wrote about it yesterday.
The Times describes "The Local" as "a pilot project that is part of an exploration by the Times of ways to extend its journalistic values to serve and engage audiences in new ways." The sites will be heavily focused on citizen journalism. They will invite the public to submit short films, artwork from their children, calendars of neighborhood events and wedding announcements, among other features.
The Journal also points out that a similar experiment by the Washington Post, LoudonExtra, has been a disappointment.
Of course Jeff Jarvis, godfather of the hyperlocal idea, blogged about it too.
When I envision the future of local news - what rises out of the ashes of metro dailies (and witness this week's news: they are burning) - these are the kinds of structures I envision at the center of it: new slices adding up to a new pie. There will still be news organizations - and their job will, indeed, be to organize news - but they will no longer be at the center but at the periphery, helping those inside. There will be people who contribute to the ecosystem for many reasons: to make money, to inform the community, to learn, to catch the bastards. There will need to be an economic system and model that can support the best of this. That's the hardest part, I think. But this is a start. Bravo for it.
Jarvis admonishes us all, The Local, Patch and sites like ours, not to consider each other as competitors, but as potential collaborators, who can point to each other's content and eventually even share revenue.
That's pretty darn counter-intuitive for any newsman (or newsgal). And for us, a media company that built itself up from scratch without outside investors, it feels a little like being asked to go over there and hug Goliath. But we'll see.
The Times experiment, which is by the way fueled by college interns, is also taking place in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, where Baristanet's city cousin, Brownstoner, is casting a wary eye.
Anyway, go over and check it out. And that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery thing? I think you'll notice that as well.
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Comments (13)
Hi Tom,
Still can't log in with Firefox.
Hi Tom,
Still can't log in with Firefox. Safari lets me log in but gets stuck!
"Fueled by college interns" - there's yer economic model in a nutshell.
I'm in on Firefox right now. Just had to boot my cookies and cache, but it's working now. Will be swapping in a new login process in the next day, hopefully, that should streamline this quite a bit.
Why is Baristanet talking about Path and other blogs similar to its own? Is Patch paying for this article, or is Debbie part owner of Patch?
You have to love Deb knocking the competition when her site isn't working all the way. You don't have to delete cookies to post at "The Local".
I'd be a little worried about this one Deb. Better graphic design, better organized, and (lo!) sports coverage.
While deb seems to think she's invented weather related and transit delay stories, if you read the "imitated" stories you'll notice some actual reporting (lo again!).
Also the "tone" over there seems much better. Playful without all the bitter snark.
Competition is a good thing....
...says one of the biggest purveyors of snark on this site.
The percentage of ad space seems to be about the same. The font and design is much nicer imho as well. You'd think the NYT would jump in to Montclair and really make it really fun. Agree on the competition ROC.
THOUGHTS....
I was born & raised in Maplewood & South Orange. They are great towns to grow up in. I am in both towns frequently, very very frequently. I go to SOPAC, to the Maplewood Movie and to many - actually allmost all the restaurants there. (They are all excellent). I buy my Deli items there, and am a product of their school system. Furthermore I also shop both centers and bought my cars there.
That said, I see little to no consumer benefit to the PATCH stuff. The two towns share a great townwide newspaper (The "NewsRecord".
The one thing that I have found is to enjoy yourself, but keep your business to yourself. Be vague in answering questions that are really none of another person's business. Be friendly and nice & polite but go your own way, with your own family. Many, not all, but many people only like to critique others and/or "put 'em down" to bolster their own self esteem.
Keep 'ya distance. We oft go out to eat with long time friends, who are REAL friends and have shown that - as we have towards them, at the Steak House in S.O.
I am leery of this PATCH. Seems to be a vehicle for those who think that they are elite above others, to reshape the town how THEY want it ti be.
I see nothing positive that they are bringing to the table, that is not ALREADY THERE!
Before this group takes credit for everything thats allready over there, get in your cars and go see for yourself.
Check out the beautiful South Orange Train Station, the Cafe(s), the Speciality food at the Train Station, the beautiful duck pond in Cameron Field, the tennis courts, the rolling hills, and the beautiful Memorial Park in Maplewood, and of course the English themed buildings in Maplewood center and the nice quaint shopping center that's Oh so hidden away. Be sure to pick up a copy of the Maplewood-South Orange News Record and check out what's going on in town, weekly! It's really VERY close! 17 minutes from the corner of Broad St & Blmfd. Ave at Bloomfield Center.
Maybe I'm biased, but The Local has nothing on Baristanet. It is stodgy and overly earnest and everything else you don't want in a blog. And it's not even doing original stuff, just reposting what you guys post -- a few hours later.
looks to me at The Local, there's actual professionally-written, researched NEW articles, not rehashed two-week-old news spun to make it look like someone on here "discovered" it first.
This is a terribly self-serving post. (With the obligatory Jeff Jarvis reference!) It reeks of Barista-type smugness.
You have to love Jarvis:
"There will need to be an economic system and model that can support the best of this. That's the hardest part, I think. But this is a start. Bravo for it."
Translation: Let's burn down the house before we have another place lined up to live, something is sure to come along, right?
Correction: (to other's in the media) Let's burn down YOUR house, I'm all set with a teaching job, thanks...