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News & Analysis

6 Ad Servers for Hyperlocal News Sites

April 15, 2013April 15, 2013 by Stephanie Miles

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Selecting the right ad server for a local news site has both financial and functional implications. Although many first-time publishers manage ads within their CMS platforms using ad plugins, those tools can only scale so far. Here are six ad servers that work with hyperlocal sites…

News & Analysis

With NJ News Co-op, Prof. Deb Galant Keeps to Her Hyperlocal Roots

February 28, 2013February 28, 2013 by Tom Grubisich

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In July 2012, the Baristanet founder decamped for the nearby groves of academe – to the new Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University. Not surprisingly, Galant stayed true to her entrepreneurial spirit, launching the center’s NJ News Commons, which brings together news organizations from around the state to share stories and resources. Street Fight caught up with Galant recently to find out more about the news co-op, and why the project is important for hyperlocals…

Commentary

Sizing the Industry: Who Gets Counted as ‘Hyperlocal?’

November 14, 2012November 14, 2012 by David Hirschman

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Since we launched Street Fight in April of last year, one question has come up again and again that we don’t have a very good answer for: “How many hyperlocal news sites are currently operating in the U.S. — and is that number growing? And if it’s growing, how fast is it growing?”

News & Analysis

Hyperlocals Dig In as Sandy Bears Down on East Coast Communities

October 29, 2012October 30, 2012 by Tom Grubisich

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From Cape May, N.J., up the Atlantic Coast to New England, hyperlocal news sites put on their slickers and boots to prepare for “perfect storm” Sandy. We asked a few publishers what they have been doing today as they gear for more intense news around Sandy as the storm soon makes landfall along the eastern seaboard.

News & Analysis

Street Fight Daily: Groupon Hits Low, Foursquare Helps Ad Sales

July 11, 2012July 11, 2012 by The Editors

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Groupon’s Stock Hits New Low, Slipping More than 5% on the Day (The Next Web)… Foursquare Helps Magazine and Radio Station Sell Ads (AdWeek)… Hyperlocal News Sites Mature as Founders of Baristanet, Dallas South News Move On (Poynter)…

News & Analysis

Street Fight Daily: Baristanet Founder Departs, ‘Showrooming’

July 10, 2012July 10, 2012 by The Editors

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Departure of Baristanet Founder Doesn’t Portend Changes, Says Editor (Poynter)… Is the Future of Retail Showrooming? (GigaOm)… Let’s Explode the Myth that Data Journalism is ‘Resource Intensive’ (Online Journalism Blog)… Let’s Explode the Myth that Data Journalism is ‘Resource Intensive’ (Online Journalism Blog)…

News & Analysis

Debbie Galant Leaving Baristanet for Role at Montclair State

July 9, 2012July 9, 2012 by David Hirschman

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Galant, who co-founded Baristanet, the New Jersey network of indie hyperlocals, is leaving management of the site to take a role at Montclair State University, where she’ll join “an ambitious effort to nurture digital and hyperlocal journalism in New Jersey.”

News & Analysis

How Hyperlocals Can Build Community and Source Stories With Meal Meetups

March 28, 2012March 28, 2012 by Alex Salkever

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Having watched the successful construction of communities brick-by-brick in politics, in meals, and in high-tech around topics of interest, I know that the power of simply sitting down with a small group to learn their views can result in powerful changes and truly viral sharing of genuine user generated content of the highest quality…

News & Analysis

Hyperlocals and School Coverage: Where’s the Big Picture?

November 4, 2011November 5, 2011 by Tom Grubisich

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Hyperlocals could do a much better job covering the biggest news in their communities — the schools. What’s happening in schools is big news not just for parents but everybody hyperlocals are trying to reach. Hyperlocals should be all over the big-picture story. But from what I see, they aren’t…

News & Analysis

#SFS11 VIDEO: Survive and Thrive as a Standalone Hyperlocal

November 2, 2011November 2, 2011 by David Hirschman

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On the first day of the Street Fight Summit in New York last week, our columnist Tom Grubisich moderated a panel about profitability and strategy featuring three successful hyperlocal entrepreneurs — Baristanet’s Debra Galant, ARL Now’s Scott Brodbeck, and The Alternative Press’ Michael Shapiro…

News & Analysis

What Independent Hyperlocals Need for the Long Haul

October 20, 2011October 20, 2011 by Tom Grubisich

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The surging growth of hyperlocal news—today there are more than 3,000 sites in operation and hundreds more in various stages of formation—is being driven by independents. The media disrupters are the people who have the passion and gumption to develop and run their sites with financing from their own personal credit cards.

I’m thinking of entrepreneurs like Debbie Galant, who with $3,000 co-founded Baristanet in the crowded media market of northern New Jersey in 2004, expanding it to seven communities. And Scott Brodbeck who, while he was completing a master’s program, started ARLNow in Arlington, Va., in suburban Washington D.C.

News & Analysis

Why Hyperlocal News Is Better Than Ever

August 25, 2011August 25, 2011 by Tom Grubisich

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Add everything up, and you have a steadily growing number of sites that are innovating to find and produce quality news covering a myriad of topics. This added-value news is reaching and engaging more people, thanks principally to the giant leaps by social media. The best hyperlocals are becoming the X factor in the civic renaissance that communities need to emerge stronger from their trying economic times…

News & Analysis

Announcing Street Fight’s First Annual Hyperlocal Industry Summit

July 11, 2011August 17, 2011 by David Hirschman

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Street Fight is proud to announce our first annual industry summit, which will bring together leading minds from across the hyperlocal industry on October 25th-26th in New York City. Participants will include top executives from Patch, Topix, Fwix, Yipit, Gilt City and many more. Buy your ticket before July 31 and save $200!

News & Analysis

Authentically Local Declares: ‘Local Doesn’t Scale’

May 12, 2011May 19, 2011 by John Hazard

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What makes a media site local? Does local coverage make it local? How about a local staff? Local ads?

Actually, it’s the ownership, say the folks behind Authentically Local, a collective of 25 hyperlocal Web sites that will be announced today at the GeoWorld Summit in Brooklyn. The collective is “basically a branding campaign” that will eventually be extended to on-the-ground businesses, said Baristanet‘s Debbie Galant, one of the founders….

News & Analysis

Street Fight Daily: 05.05.11

May 5, 2011 by David Hirschman

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.…

Those who use social location-based apps such as Foursquare or Facebook Places represent just 17% of the mobile population, according to a new study. Of those opting out of participating in the checkin craze, or any other social location behavior for that matter, 48% cited privacy concerns as their primary reason for not doing so. (Mashable)…

During AOL’s earnings call, one of the top questions from analysts was what is AOL’s plan with Patch? The company dumped $40 million into the hyperlocal network for the second quarter in a row, and it didn’t generate much revenue. Here’s Tim Armstrong’s explanation. (Business Insider)…

IAC-owned local media and advertising property CityGrid Media is acquiring social media monitoring and sentiment analysis platform BuzzLabs. The company allows publishers to leverage social content, keeps consumers better informed, and helps local businesses monitor their presence across the web. (TechCrunch)…

News & Analysis

Baristanet’s Debra Galant: How Patch Is Like Wal-Mart

April 19, 2011January 26, 2012 by David Hirschman

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Since its 2004 launch, Essex County, New Jersey-based Baristanet has often been held up as a hyperlocal news success story. Veteran journalists Liz George and Debra Galant created their local information site to be like a coffee shop where people in the three suburban towns they covered could learn about small-scale news and events around them.

Street Fight spoke recently with Galant about the site’s scope and history, whether stories about potholes can really be monetized, and what she thinks of AOL’s Patch...