Listeners of the World,

What is news? What do you consider important? The below link is to an article written by Bill Keller who has great insights about aggregation compared to reporting. I believe anyone who is in the hyper-local arena should read this! Please enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/magazine/mag-13lede-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine

Your OurTown Superhero,

Chris

Video Ads and OurTown!

Listeners of the World,

It has been stated over and over again that this is the year of video and that video will help increase your engagement, conversation, and sales. Well OurTown is listening and working to make sure that our local editors get in on the action! OurTown.com already has video capabilities for articles/stories, but now we are starting to offer video capabilities for their local advertisements as well.

We have a great advantage since we are associated with vADz.com which is a cost effective video ad solution for small and medium sized businesses. We are able to offer to our local editors something that most sites or news organizations can't..........video ads that they can create and price themselves! vADz is an easy to use system where you mix and combine images, videos, text, transitions, and audio to create 15 to 60 second ads. They will have the ability to also add coupons, maps, and other attachments ( ex. car-fax, menu, catalog, etc.).

We have started to introduce this to many of our local editors and for now they can create video ads on the vADz main site, but soon this will be a built in feature! They have the ability to embed the video on the site, include a link in a story or in a rich text ad.

Video is everywhere and will be everywhere on OurTown.com! This is only one of the main new additions to OurTown that will make it better than the rest!

Your OurTown Superhero,

Chris

Patch!!!!!

Listeners of the World,

If you haven't heard (which I would find it hard to believe at this point) the internet giant known as AOL has created its own hyper local news site named Patch.com! Many people have been talking about and learning about the new site over the past year as it has tried to move across the US. Below is some of what we have learned!

Patch functions in similar ways to OurTown with having a local editor from each area being in charge of the individual site. But, Patch is very different in the way that local editors are paid a base pay and do not get anything for the local ads. They also are spending about 30 million a quarter to run the site itself! Both sites promote communities on a very local platform and are setup for people to contribute articles, photos, events, etc. And both sites focus in on local stories and businesses.

Many people have tried to look at Patch and come up a business plan that makes sense or lets them turn a profit.........and many have failed to do so. I have heard from current Patch editors and former employees that there seems to be a lot of confusion/waste in the process and do not believe that Patch will be a success. Also, many articles have been written about Patch.....calling it un-newsworthy.....waste of money......flawed business plan and so on. They have not been too nice to Patch even though it seems like the site has been gaining a lot of attention!

Even with all of this we see Patch as a big competitor and are shaping our new site to be able to overcome this giant! We will have different features and focuses from what Patch is doing, which we think will win in the end.

Many say it will fail, and they think it's the future. Only time will tell, and only you will decided!

Your OurTown Superhero,

Chris