"The challenge for web editors is to determine exactly which ‘local’ community they will target and what motivates the community."

Is hyperlocalism the way forward for the business model?

There is a very good piece in How Do News in which Andy Poole, digital strategist at Weber Shandwick North, writes

The challenge for web editors is to determine exactly which ‘local’ community they will target and what motivates the community. By understanding exactly what matters to their audience, websites can provide users with relevant and interesting content that will create appeal. If this appeal is strong enough, users will pay to access it – just as FT and WSJ subscribers do - irrelevant of the existence of non-pay wall sites.

That really is for me the point.It is all about targeting and giving the audience what they want,As Andy says quality can prove much more valuable than quantity.

As I wrote on this blog yesterday,the Caledonian Mercury launch is centred on targeted,local,quality news,driven by a low cost business model.

Hyperlocal sites can do that