Uncertain future for localised websites?
Jinfo Blog

By Nancy Davis Kho

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The latest news around localised news content is  rather contradictory: while one media player winds down its localised news website, another announces a major repositioning as a "full-on course correction."

PaidContent.co.uk today reports that Guardian News & Media  is closing down its Guardian Local project, an experiment started in 2010 and intended as a new model for online- only gathering of hyperlocal news. Each of three local sites—Cardiff, Leeds, and Edinburgh—had a "beatblogger" whose job it was, according to the original job post provided by PaidContent, to "creat[e] and curat[e] local multimedia content (text, photographs, audio and video) for their city."

According to a blog post by Meg Pickard, Guardian's head of digital engagement, "Unfortunately, while the blogs have found engaged local readerships and had good editorial impact, the project is not sustainable in its present form." She promises that the progress made in engaging with readers on localised topics will not be lost but will rather be incorporated into the broader Guardian coverage.

Meanwhile, the recent acquisition of HuffingtonPost by AOL seems to have forced AOL to scrutinise its own localised effort, Patch, a network of 800 local news blogs. As Businessinsider.com reported yesterday, AOL has been spending $120 million on Patch in order to reach 4 million readers, while HuffPo is reaching 25 million visitors each month. While HuffPo only recently began to turn a profit, the $315 million that AOL paid for it looks downright reasonable when you consider what they're spending on Patch.

So word went out via an internal memo dated that was leaked to Forbes.com that Patch editors are expected to recruit 8,000 bloggers within the next eight days—that's right, each editor is supposed to recruit 5-10 new bloggers by May 4 when the blog platform will be re-launched. If nothing else, it's certainly a signal that AOL isn't particularly concerned about the class action lawsuit filed earlier this month against HuffPo by a group of bloggers, claiming that they are due part of the $315 million acquisition fee for the content that they posted for free.

Will a renewed Patch.com be able to create a viable, reenergized network of hyperlocal news sites in a way that garners more success than Guardian's experiment?  Its ability to draw on lessons learned by HuffPo in the early days may give it an advantage. And the quality of the bloggers picked up in this frenzy is going to be key.

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