HyperLocal Is... Your Neighborhood!

Wikipedia defines "hyperlocal" as "news coverage of community-level events usually overlooked by mainstream media outlets."

If you think about it, there's probably something really interesting happening on your block. Whether it's your neighbor packing for a trip to meet with your state representative to make major reforms to some piece of legislation, or it's the neighbor who looks likes she's sitting in front of a computer screen all day but is really one-click away from becoming an internet millionaire. Something cool is happening in your neighborhood.

Simply by talking to your neighbors, you're bound to discover something cool about them or about the neighborhood. For instance, I discovered from my neighbor that their house and mine were the first two built and lived in on our two streets by a father-son construction company in the 1940s.

If your neighbor is doing something YOU find cool, why not share the news? The beauty of the internet is that you can now report on the stories that your local newspaper might pass up in favor of something more sensational. HyperLocal Citizen Journalists turn their noses to the stale air of traditional media and find outlets for their stories. After all, if you spin it right, you could make a story about the annual sowing of beet seeds sound like the coolest thing in the world.

So, all you HyperLocal CJs, go find the unique angle on your neighborhood and tell the world about it. I'm going to write about the secret panel in the tunnel down the street... What are you going to write about?