Hyperlocal Pioneer Howard Owens Sees New Mobile App as Key to Scaling Beyond His ‘Batavian’
Eight and a half years after launching his hyperlocal news site The Batavian, in upstate New York, Howard Owens is looking at growing his base company, Album Corp., beyond Batavia to multiple locations. His plan for expansion is driven by a homemade mobile app that he’s experimenting with for the site.
Howard Owens on What It Takes to Sustain a Hyperlocal News Site
“If there’s any clear message, it’s what I’ve been saying for the past four or five years: Starting and running a local news site is hard work,” says the Batavian editor and publisher. “You need a good model, a solid plan, the ability to work long hours and handle multiple disciplines and stick with it for years and years with no promise of ever striking it rich. If you can do that, you’re on the right track.”
Street Fight Daily: Groupon Buys FeeFighters, Howard Owens on Paywalls
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...
Groupon Acquires FeeFighters, the BillShrink for Business Services (TechCrunch)…
Paywalls Create Opportunities for Local News Entrepreneurs (howardowens.com)…
You Say ‘SoLoMo,’ I Say, ‘I Hate My Life’ (TechCrunch)…
Local Quotables: Crowley, Owens, Gallo, Cheong and more…
The quote of the week goes to the folks at Starboard Value LP, which owns a 4.5% stake in AOL and holds a seat on the board. In a letter to the company, Starboard went on the attack against AOL’s media business… with a pointed mention of Patch. The Batavian’s Howard Owens predicts Patch won’t survive 2012; journo Jane Stevens gets revolutionary; and Foursquare’s Dennis Crowley weighs in on Siri…
Owens, Tucker Spar Over Indies’ Profitability
Last week, The Batavian’s Howard Owens penned a post on his personal blog about why independent hyperlocal sites were better positioned to be profitable long-term than scaled hyperlocal networks. Main Street Connect’s Carll Tucker, who believes that he has come upon a scalable formula for hyperlocal profitability, responded to Owens’ post last week, setting off a lively debate in the posts’ comments section over whether indies or scaled networks really have the upper hand when it comes to profitability…
The Batavian’s Owens: Start Selling Ads the Day You Launch
The veteran newsman says hyperlocal networks like Patch are at “a disadvantage” when it comes to selling local ads, because there is “a certain barrier of trust that must be overcome” in order to get local businesses on board as advertisers. He also weighs in on the long-term viability of advertising as a business model for local online content.
Hyperlocal Publishers Form a Trade Group
A group of 22 local online news organizations have announced that they are forming a trade association. The parameters and potential activity of the association remain largely undefined, but the group includes some of the better-known names in indie hyperlocal publishing, including The Batavian’s Howard Owens, Baristanet’s Debra Gallant, and Oakland Local’s Susan Mernit…
Street Fight Daily: Facebook to Launch Campaign Optimization Tool, Inside eBay’s Renaissance
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Is Introducing a Campaign Budget Optimization Tool for Advertisers… Inside eBay’s Repositioning as a Modern E-Commerce Platform… Twitter Helps Out Small Businesses with Promote Mode Service…
Street Fight Daily: Retailers Sign Up for Texting Via Android, Dash Turns Cars into Data Troves
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Wants Businesses to Text with Android Messaging Service… Dash Aims to Turn Driving Machines into Data-Driven Machines… How Retailers Can Best Position Themselves to Thrive in an Age of Disruption…
How a Vermont Site Bested 2 Dailies and Weekly — 2 Years After Launch
In the “Northeast Kingdom” of Vermont is Orleans County. Orleans has a population of only 27,169, but it is the location of a four-way competition among community news publishers — digital and pure play. The newest competitor is the pure-play independent Newport Dispatch, which, in less than two years, has captured the biggest digital audience in Orleans…
Street Fight Daily: Airbnb’s Next Mega-Round, Samsung Debuts Mobile Payments
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Airbnb Is Raising A Monster Round At A $20B Valuation (TechCrunch)… Samsung Actually Stands A Fighting Chance In Mobile Payments (Quartz)… Uber Discloses Data Breach That May Have Affected 50,000 Drivers (GigaOm)…
Community Publishers Mixed on Borrell Prescription for Content
Gordon Borrell minced no words in Street Fight recently when he talked about content and audience in the revenue-hot digital space that his new annual local media report pinpoints. He said: “It’s so much not about readers. It’s so much more about consumers. So those folks who are trying to develop hyperlocal sites around good […]
How Community Involvement Can Pay Off for Local Publishers
Commuter traffic tie-ups and convenience store holdups can’t be the heart of a community news product. “Duty” coverage is still part of many sites’ content menu, but, by itself, it can’t build a solid relationship with community. The trick is to empower users “to take action to improve their communities”…
Hyperlocal Publishing: Who Stumbled, Who Was Nimble and What’s Next?
The big story in hyperlocal publishing this year was the fall of corporate hyperlocal pureplays like Patch, and Everyblock — big bets that failed to reach sustainability. And so as we look to the New Year, a persistent question once again emerges for community news: when will publishers find a digital model that works?
Police Scanners and Speculation = Necessary Hyperlocal Journalism?
A lively discussion erupted yesterday in the comments section of Street Fight’s interview with B-Town Blog’s Scott Schaefer. At issue: Schaefer’s suggestion that sites did their communities disservice by reporting on rumors and information that comes over the transom via unconfirmed rumors and police scanner reports… Among those taking issue were The Batavian’s Howard Owens, who wrote: “When you don’t do scanner reports, you’re missing a key to audience growth and retention, and I think abandoning your ethical obligation as a real-time news service to keep readers fully informed.”…