Monthly Archives: June 2011

News publishers: Shafer has it wrong about ‘hyperloco’

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Jessica Durkin

This week Slate.com media columnist Jack Shafer posted a pair of articles about the emerging hyperlocal news space. The first post, “Hyperloco: Why I find AOL’s Patch sites so off-putting”, took a shot at Shafer’s local Patch.com site in suburban … Continue reading →

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Leaked Patch analytics: What do these numbers mean?

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Jessica Durkin

Business Insider this week posted numerous internal Patch documents revealing site analytics at 68 Southern California Patch locations. The sites received a total 330,000 unique visitors for November, according to the documents. Are you an independent hyperlocal news publisher? How … Continue reading →

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‘Comments are content’ for local news sites: 8 tips to build community, coverage

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Jessica Durkin

What types of stories get comment traction on hyperlocal sites? Block by Block (BxB) surveyed independent, community news site publishers about their top reader engagement tools, and 100 percent of respondents said the comments feature on their CMS platform is … Continue reading →

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New York’s Chinatown gets hyperlocal coverage

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Jessica Durkin

Media coverage of one of America’s largest Chinese communities usually revolves around food, but some Asian-American journalists want to change that. Assisted by grants from the McCormick and Ford foundations, the Asian-American Journalists Association launched in April OurChinatown.org, a nonprofit … Continue reading →

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FCC’s Future of Media report — visualized

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Jessica Durkin

Tom Glaisyer at New America Foundation’s Media Policy Initiative (disclosure: Tom is an MPI colleague) assembled this Wordle visualization of the FCC’s Future of Media report #fccfom released Thursday. For the small, independent online news publisher, the words that appear … Continue reading →

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The FCC report and ‘hyperlocal’

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Jessica Durkin

The Federal Communications Commission released today the 300+ page report “The Information Needs of Communities: The changing media landscape in a broadband age”. The report is an exhaustive overview of modern American media in traditional and emerging formats. The term … Continue reading →

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Kreisman: The growth of “McLocal” news sites

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Jessica Durkin

This article is a cross-post on Block by Block from Polly Kreisman, editor and publisher of theLoopNY.com, an independent community news/hyperlocal site outside New York City established in 2007. theLoopNY sees 35,000 visitors a month — 20,000 of which are … Continue reading →

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Developer alert – Check out our RFP for a new website

Posted on June 2, 2011 by MicheleMcLellan

We’re excited that The Patterson Foundation is supporting a new website for Block by Block. We want to create a dynamic site where independent online community news publishers can find peers with like interests and challenges. Community is the operative … Continue reading →

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Suburban online hyperlocal seeks larger audience with radio

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Jessica Durkin

By Jessica Durkin After a content-sharing agreement with the area newspaper didn’t pan out last year, independent hyperlocal publisher David Boraks of DavidsonNews.net in North Carolina turned to his radio experience and contacts in a new partnership with the local … Continue reading →

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Welcome to our new home!

Posted on June 1, 2011 by MicheleMcLellan

Block by Block is a network for online pioneers who are creating sustainable models to provide community, neighborhood and local niche news. With support from The Patterson Foundation, Block by Block is working with publishers and editors of independent local … Continue reading →

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