The Evolving Newsroom

Here’s an interesting case study of a neighbourhood blog gaining some early success – in part because it’s printed and delivered to local letterboxes.

It’s a NZ site called Flying Pickle (but thanks to UK blogger Seamus McCauley for the link) and it serves three suberbs outside Wellington – Korokoro, Maungaraki and Normandale – with an approximate population of 6,500 people: “peaceful, sleepy, middle class suburbs with a handful of local shops, 3 schools, 3 kindys, reasonable broadband penetration, a good deal of home-based businesses.”

“At first, the website was advertised on community noticeboards and in several shop windows. It scored several hundred hits from curious locals. The first print edition resulted in a surge of traffic, posts and comments from the residents.”

They say lessons to date include: it pays to automate the ad booking and print-preparation process; keep an open editorial policy; gaining local recognition and trust is key to winning over advertisers.

This is a really interesting idea and one to watch.