A big opportunity exists for local publishers and media networks to curate and aggregate everything happening in a locality. This is the journalism of inclusion. If local contributors are curated and authorized to post in real time, content distribution is more efficient. As readers learn to understand this format, local media starts to look more like a community bulletin board, with users expected to factor in the credibility of the posters...

"The old economic model is disintegrating faster than new alternatives are emerging," former Seattle Times executive editor Mike Fancher told Street Fight. "While things seem to be falling apart, I am optimistic that new models will develop. Some will be for-profit; others will be non-profit or public. There may be new hybrid models as well. "

"Journalism is Dead, Long Live Journalism" is the theme of a conference I'll be attending this week in Denver. And the name isn't a surprising one — there's been a lot of angst lately about the emerging business models for digital journalism. Futility can be difficult, but it also can bring sea change. With that in mind, here are a few of the ideas I'll likely be discussing with folks at the conference.

While alt-weeklies really used to own the market for irreverent commentary and events listings in cities around the country, the introduction of online competition over the past decade has really degraded their snarky monopolies. Tiffany Shackelford, executive director at the Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN), spoke to Street Fight recently about how alt-weeklies need to evolve their strategic thinking...

One recurring theme at last week’s Street Fight Summit concerned the ongoing project of creating, organizing, and aggregating data and content associated with location. For SMBs, the new marketing strategy favors dispersed deployment of enhanced content across multiple media and mobile services...

2012's rush to capture the hyperlocal audience has begun to wane as the reality sets in that while the online SMB market is huge and untapped, it remains hard to get those mom-and-pops to spend money on newfangled marketing methods. Last year's intense startup activity has revealed four trends going into 2013...

Although building a brand advocate network on social media potentially involves a lot of quid pro quo costs, it also likely creates stronger commercial relationships with the customer base than any campaign involving an attempt to buy loyalty with a discount coupon...

Mobile advertising works best when it's not in the form of a banner ad. On a panel at the Mobile Loco conference in San Francisco this week, participants agreed that the most promising approach is serving interesting content formatted to smartphones and tablets as a part of a contextual marketing strategy. The more an advertisement looks like a mobile app, the more consumer acceptance it will garner...

SMBs may become frustrated when they can't see tangible results from social media, but they should realize that most of their potential customers are absorbing and reacting to social media conversations and understanding brands through these interactions. Brand marketing, not the 0% conversion rates, is social media's key strength...

To prepare for Black Friday and the rest of the holiday shopping season, SMBs need to research the lowest prices being displayed online for products they sell, and determine a pricing structure of "lowest online price + alpha" that will persuade a consumer to purchase from them...