Blogger now has the ability to add locations to posts; Twitter can show you the feed by zipcode; and the Facebook app for iPhone now has a 'places' feature allowing you to 'check in' to a geographic location.
Not only that, but there are a host of new news and review websites which center around geographic-based content like EveryBlock, Outside.in, Patch, and Yelp. They might let a visitor know about an arrest a block away, the sale of a home down the street or reviews of nearby shops or restaurants.
As effective as the digital world is in creating community in cyberspace, web applications are morphing to match the desire for tangible, local communities. This trend is intersecting with another interesting trend--the decline of the local newspaper. The result is a change in the vehicles we use for the expression and characterization of geographic communities.
Back when I was in elementary school, the local paper was The Crowley Beacon. It covered everything from local crime, to high school football scores, to students who won ribbons at district UIL competitions. Advertisements were for businesses you could actually drive to in the course of your day-to-day errands. People read that paper because it was relevant to their life. In fact, it wasn't unusual that they--or someone they knew--might be in it, which gave it a different purpose than the newspaper of the big city next door, The Fort Worth Star Telegram.
In many ways, blogging and social networking has eclipsed the need for local papers with each person in a network acting both as journalist and subscriber. Yet there is still a void to be filled in celebrating the hyper-local. And with this trend of digital tools adding geographic capacity, there is an opportunity for companies, churches and charitable organizations to step into the gap and play a role in connecting with neighborhoods and communities.
Consider adapting your online tools to leverage the following strategies
1) Create community identity. Strong communities typically have a defined look, shared values and visual icons. (It is the reason towns spend so much money on large art pieces, signage or iconic public buildings.) In some communities, this will be about branding your online properties (or develop new properties) that match the existing ‘brand’ of the community. In others—where community identity is weak—you have the opportunity to help define it.
2) Give people community reasons to engage with you online. If you structure your website as a ‘one stop resource’ for people moving into the area with links to everything from electricity service to change of address at the post office; or if you create a site that is effectively the new small town newspaper for your zip code; or if you spotlight local businesses/people/activities giving them exposure they wouldn’t ordinarily have, then people will have reasons to engage with you. (Consider that visitors to a website who encounter content that meets their needs are much more engaged than people who encounter content that only meets the needs of the developer of the website.)
3) Be a reliable source of fresh, accurate, timely content. The most difficult part of being a community resource is that you have to be dependable. Consistent quality content is key. You can produce this by having a team of people generating new content, or you can structure yourself as an aggregator of existing local content. Both of these approaches require a focused commitment to both quality of information and rhythmic posting. The first time someone hits a broken link, encounters stale news or finds your content irrelevant, they will ‘vote with their mouse’ and go to a site that does it better than you.
4) Use the online to go offline. As you establish yourself as a destination online for the hyper-local, you earn the right to invite your audience to engage with you offline and can create events and opportunities to do so. The best part with the hyperlocal is that proximity makes it easy for them to do so.
