Community choice

When it comes to Personalize Media, there may be nothing better than community bloggers.

There have been some wonderful experiments by media companies in the U.S., connecting readers to local bloggers, or using an old term, user generated content.

One example that may lead the pack, is the Denver Post’s Your Hub that first established 19 community websites soliciting and receiving nearly 90 percent of its content from local bloggers and local people and local companies in an around Denver.

Then the Post spun off weekly, zoned, print sections using that material and five years later the “experiment” is profitable and sustainable and valuable and valued by the communities it serves.

Most recently The Sacramento Bee established Sacramento Connect. (Visit /www.knightdigitalmediacenter.org/leadership_blog/comments/20100720_with_sacramento_connect_the_bee_taps_the_power_of_partnerships)

Growing virally, the network of local bloggers seems to be adding some valuable content to the newspaper’s daily report.

As far as readers go, many people would like to hone their daily information diet to include local content. Bloggers, especially when made available through a well-known, trusted brand like the local newspaper, can offer those special reports.