We’ve seen some interesting developments in blogger-media relationships in the past week, and at the same time, we were working on our own effort to support hyperlocal reporting. Our first three community resource sites for local bloggers in Tacoma, WA, Jackson, MS, and St. Louis, MO will roll out shortly (stay tuned for official announcements).
Around the same time, we noticed a new site doing just this in Roanoke, VA and we’ve launched a partnership with them. BlogRoanoke is now using outside.in for Publishers to produce neighborhood news pages from the local Roanoke sites in their system, and when these local sites sign up for outside.in, they can grab a storymap to display their stories and show they are part of our blogger network. Then, their posts will show up on BlogRoanoke and their sister site, Star City Harbinger, and outside.in pages and other media partner pages. Just like that, their audience grows significantly. BlogRoanoke put it best: “Just in case you missed it…this is a Big Deal. When you sign up for outside.in, you’ll get exposure on outside.in and its network of mainstream media partners. You’ve just gone from local to big time–while staying local. In fact, while becoming even more local. Hyperlocal, even.”
Instead of only a limited number of bloggers, we’re welcoming all local bloggers in Roanoke (and our three other test-case cities) to join our project. We’ll be offering up tips and observations on hyperlocal blogging over on BlogRoanoke. So head on over and see what they’re doing, and if you’re a local Roanoke blogger, sign up! And of course, if you’re a local blogger outside of these towns, you can still sign up for outside.in to syndicate your hyperlocal posts, grab a StoryMap for your site, and use our geoSEO tools!
