NYT Neighborhood Blogging

The New York Times launched a “neighborhood blog” in which subscribers to the Times will be able to post on local events and happenings in the area. Each blog will be hyper-localized to a particular area and will be open to posts on almost any type of cultural events or news pertinent to that particular area. According to the NYT, Times editors will still be placing a large about of content on each blog but will mainly consist of user-generated content. Users will be able to post in all mediums, from regular text, to photos and even videos. The Times also hopes that it will attract more advertisements from local companies who can’t afford to advertise on the New York Times as a whole.

I think that this is a pretty decent idea but I am surprised it has taken a large news outlet like the NYT this long to jump on the blog bandwagon. Creating these hyper-localized threads will be beneficial in enhancing advertising of local happenings but could get lost in spam postings in its moderators don’t stay on top of it. I don’t believe that users will stick with it if the information isn’t A) accurate and up to date and B) clean of spam postings.

My sources can be found at Techcrunch and Brownstoner