communities – blogging and local news

now we’re seeing a new cycle of interactivity under the banner of community blogging, with this month’s launch of Austin360 Blogs , affiliated with the Austin American-Statesman, It’s Your Times , affiliated with the St. Petersburg Times (which is owned by Poynter), and TheColumbiaRecord.com , affiliated with The State in Columbia, S.C.

Many of these sites are just beginning to attract contributing users, but so far the quality of postings is quite a bit higher than that of the typical message board on a news site. Maintaining that quality will be a challenge and each site will have to develop a strategy to do so. The Columbia site requires that bloggers post with their real names. The Austin site requires that bloggers approve any comments on their blog items before they become public. The St. Petersburg site makes a point of warning that insulting or disrespectful comments will be removed.

Local media — both print and broadcast — have lost much audience in recent years. These interactive websites offer an opportunity for a newspaper or broadcaster to rebuild civic engagement and social capital. Whether these sites evolve into great online communities or Internet slums will depend on the consistent time, attention and leadership that the site management applies.

Via Yelvington.com

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