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Hyperlocal news website MyWelshPool.co.uk has helped police catch a suspected rapists thanks to their community outreach to readers.
The UK based website recently posted details about the suspect and asked that their 2,100 Facebook fans report any possible suspects to police.
According to the site, scores of readers posted the mans details across their Facebook walls and by midweek three arrests had been made and police announced that they were no longer looking for further suspects.
Speaking about the role his site and other hyperlocal sites have in community outreach, co-founder David Williams wrote:
“It highlights the excellent service that local news web sites like ours can provide to the community.
We can send out immediate bulletins on accidents, road closures, weather problems and of course crime appeals.
The role of the local news service is changing as people turn to the internet in growing numbers and our latest figures from the past month again show incredible growth and loyalty from the local population.”
Websites with readers in the hundreds of thousands may offer site owners a better chance for growth however MyWelshPool proves that a smaller more focused user base can become very active in their community sites, in the case of this particular site a daily average reader pool of just 1,200 people was enough to help police catch a rapist.
