Craigslist was able to build an empire of hyperlocal classified sites by supplying each city and their denizens with free classifieds. They are now building out globally with sites (in English) for most developed countries.
Craig Newmark was an early mover who could develop Craigslist branding traction in cities one by one starting with the San Francisco Bay Area.
Today, it’s tough to build a hyperlocal community without engaging the community on the ground itself. Sites like Outside.In and Topix have failed to generate community enthusiasm for most of its city sites; even the venerable Craigslist has poor adoption outside North America.
Our Breaking News Network operates differently; each city’s Breaking News site is developed by “community hub people and groups” that assist in building business models. The hubs own and manage the site, and are invested in developing community traction. In aggregate, the Breaking News Network operates like a Craigslist on a national scale. We’ll eventually cover every major market as well as cities as small as Chico, CA and Asheville, NC – here’s a list of existing cities as of June 10. We’ll be leveraging the network by adding new business models for companies and organizations who need to establish a social media reach into the community – examples include Chambers of Commerce, and media companies that can supplement their advertising business model by offering social media marketing systems.
Yesterday, our Breaking News Network was nominated Most Innovative Media Site by Inman News, a leading online real estate publication. (Thx!)
Here’s the current lineup of the Breaking News Network. Our growth rate has averaged one city per day since starting early last month:
By Cities …
By Topic …
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No disrespect, but I fail to see the value in these sites. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have a reader setup or be on twitter and be following the correct people? It seems like this is just another window that would need to be open which will just add to the clutter on your desktop. In addition, the site is only as effective as those that participate. I’m just failing to see how you view this as the “next wave”. I’d love a better explanation. Again, no disrespect…I have always looked up to both Pat and Kevin.
Carl, pleased to speak with you yesterday. As we discussed, what you recommend – setting up a local group within a Twitter client like Tweetdeck, PeopleBrowsr or Seesmic – would suffice in following the same local Twitterers that are being featured on a Breaking News site. The Breaking News city sites just automate this process. The sites will soon offer a directory that will facilitate their discovery by the local populace.
It’s really the business and social network model behind Breaking News that provides the value. And since the concepts are so new, it does require an explanation. I’m pleased you’ll work together with us for the Atlanta region.
I invite anybody else to contact me if they have questions about the Breaking News model at @pkitano (other contact info at top of sidebar under Retaggr)