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Hyperlocal publishers now have a trade group of their own. The group, announced at the Block by Block conference in Chicago this weekend aims to help publishers gather around common business goals, while offering services that small publishers may not have easy access to such as health insurance.
22 local online news organizations announced the new trade organization at the Chicago event. While the name for the group and it’s exact activities have not yet been defined the group looks promising with several known names participating including Howard Owens of The Batavian, Debra Gallant of Baristanet and Susan Mernit of Oakland Local.
According to Brown Line Media publisher and executive secretary of the group Mike Fourcher:
“We want to have a group that represents our type of publishers.”
Mike didn’t explain exactly who “our type of publishers” are at this time, although it’s believed they will include local sites, small networks; for-profit and non-profit sites.
Fourcher continued:
“We know that we have some common interests and that we want to have a representative organization. And we’re working to figure out what those considered criteria are, and what exactly that organization would be. ”
Not included in the trade organization is AOL’s Patch and other major players in the hyperlocal market.
The move to form the trade group shows that an increasing number of hyperlocal industry publishers are looking for a sustainable business model.
