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The discussion about “hyperlocal” media continues to grow in no small part because corporations and media properties are trying to figure out what the term really means, and how to monetize it. Isn’t word-of-mouth marketing the ultimate hyperlocal media? Or, don’t we just need a new cadre of would-be Cronkites out on the beat, like CNN’s IReporters or the network of citizen reporters for the Chicago Tribune? And how local is hyper local? Coverage of one neighborhood – or a series of probing interviews with the barstool opiner who never moves? How far do we go, and why do we go there?
For some it is surely about the quirky celebration of local color, like I Saw It On Ponce, which is dedicated to promoting the good, bad and odd along just one street. Others see it as about civic pride and micro-boosterism of a neighborhood, as noted in a recent New York Times article on the link between urban gentrification and Yuppie bloggers. The hyperlocal aggregator site Outside.in detects your location, pulls together local blogs and news, and lets you choose from thousands of specific neighborhoods should you want to zoom in on your news (and the accompanying Google map). With all this, we must also consider the balance between author and reader, us and them. Is hyperlocal the meeting place of, boundary line between and portal across the personal memoir and the community gossip? Is the coverage about the writer or for the reader? The Gladys Kravitz or the Kravitzed?
These are questions only of the current moment. We need to broaden our view. Really, most good, true journalism – not what passes for it today, offered up around the clock – has always been hyperlocal. Is there any honest reporting that isn’t up-close? Does this generation even remember Dan Rather in the midst of hurricane gales or with troops in Vietnam? Or think of the rise of food and wine culture and media in America: is there any story about either without the hyperlocality of Napa Valley, where the people, products and stories change from one side of a hill to another? And don’t forget “all politics” and how local it is claimed and accepted to be. Even the massive celebrity engine of pop-culture – and the self-referential and self-reverential media that spews forth from it – is all about the goings on in the tiniest of neighborhoods outside of Los Angeles. We forget that Beverly Hills is a suburb somehow, and that our “culture” has become defined by what is whispered or passed through the hedges there.
Whether voyeurism, exhibitionism, sniping, gossiping or engaged, human storytelling, the fascination with the hyperlocal seems to point to our desire for something closer than what we are getting. We want to trust that there are still real, if not always enjoyable, stories to this life, shared by people who struggle and achieve just like we do. We don’t want our stories packaged like they once were.
Perhaps we’ve had too much executive production, spin, product placement, conglomeration, programming strategy and Nielsen-rating? Maybe what we want is to know our neighbors, to hear ourselves, to wake up and be self-aware – if hopelessly flawed and human – again? Could it be that we want the validation of finding, creating and sharing our own stories about our own places – neither sponsored by anyone for any reason – and in so doing reclaim a hint of self, community and connection?
That marketers and media companies cannot – or will not – see that consumers are fleeing the hustle at lightening speed is the most disturbing part of all of this. Much of the social media that has reshaped the industry rose from this type of push back. End of day, we want some private space and some quiet time to be ourselves, find our own voices and express our own views. It is up to us if that hyperlocal real estate is for sale of not. Big media already wants to own it; big advertisers already want to co-opt your voice. If they keep pushing, what is the next level of hyperlocal media? Secret codes and private languages among just your trusted friends? Oh, wait…text messages are here already.
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The effectiveness of hyperlocal media depends in part on granularity as well—how far down do you go? In urban areas, you may focus on a single street or intersection… but what about suburbia? It doesn’t scale so well, especially if your "neighborhood" is just the place you park your car and pass out between shifts in the office 45 minutes away.
Taking the cynical view, if you want to see how well hyperlocality works on the personal level, ride public transportation some time (especially during a commuter hours). Blackberries on, cell phones open, iPod earbuds crammed. In many cases, you may be riding with people you see every day (but do not talk to).
When it comes to interacting with neighbors, people are not exactly starving for the word on the street.
In fact, what street?
E.