3. Blogs as a Community Content Hub
(NOTE: This post is part of a series. Series index.)
If your news org is committed to making a special effort to reaching certain underserved communities, blogs can become your hub for collecting and creating content specifically relevant to those people.
Examples…
- Homefront in Focus: For SignOn San Diego, by a local military spouse
- Houston Chronicle offers three Spanish-language blogs.
- LA’s Homeless Blog. News, commentary, and citizen journalism aimed at an unlikely target community by an advocacy organization.
- CityRoom: This NYTimes.com metro blog does a great job of promoting other local blogs addressing various communities of geography, ethnicity, culture, and interest. Even if they’re just linking out, from a venue like this that’s a big boost. Even better would be if they would routinely highlight and republish (with permission) the best content and discussion from those community blogs.
TIPS:
Start with the blog, and expand. Community content and conversation that first appears in your blog can later be expanded into traditional coverage (news, features for print or broadcast) as well as mobile, podcasts, etc. Always link back to the blog as a center of community focus.
Respond to comments. If your news org needs to prove it’s listening to previously underserved communities, then acknowledge them when they speak up. If you’re taking their suggestions into account, show them how.
Followup. Community-focused blogs can be a great place to provide targeted followup on key news stories. For instance, if you’ve just run a big series on school funding, your Arab-community blog could be the perfect place to include extra info on schools in Arab immigrant neighborhoods; or to ask open questions to invite community input
Make it mobile. Offer a mobile edition of at least the headlines and summaries of your community blogs.
