Media News - Friday, July 03, 2009

Daily Mail owner launches websites aimed at ‘hyperlocal’ communities

Daily Mail & General Trust is this week launching the first of 50 hyperlocal community websites in the south west of England as part of a pilot scheme to increase its grassroots online presence across the country. Associated Northcliffe Digital, the digital consumer division of DMGT, is rolling out the first 23 sites in its Local People network this week, with a further 20 expected to launch in the next four weeks. The sites, which include falmouthpeople.co.uk and bidefordpeople.co.uk, cover areas with between 10,000 and 50,000 inhabitants and are aimed at encouraging interaction by allowing users to create profiles, write and publish stories, upload images, form groups and rate and review other content and message each other. Each site will have a paid community publisher to oversee the site, contribute content and encourage engagement. The sites will be open to local businesses to market themselves to customers through display advertising and business directory listings, via Google Maps. Business owners will also able to enhance their listings for a fee. Associated Northcliffe Digital's pilot project, which has been four months in development, will also see the launch of 10 sites for communities across Bristol, including cliftonpeople.co.uk. The launch follows similar ventures by other regional publishing groups, including Trinity Mirror. However, most have a focus on news, rather than community interaction. (The Guardian)

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