The point is that newspapers need to ID these niches, not just throw up a generic all-community/all-topic site, or try to appeal to teenagers by sex-ing up some shovelware.

In clumsier words, a logo and a demographic do not a successful community site make.

But seriously, a community in your circulation area that’s going unserved because you just laid off the reporter who used to cover that neighborhood?

That’s a hyperlocal opportunity. Build something just for them and let them report on whatever they want.

I’m somewhat dumbstruck by how few easy options for community participation I see at some hyperlocal sites.

Which is why I’m asking the question: What’s hyperlocal?

I got into a spat with a fellow executive once because she wanted me to build a web site with a specific target audience in mind. She wasn’t telling me the audience, but she said something like, “you should decide if your target audience is 35-year-old women with children and if it is, make your design decisions accordingly.”

My first response, “hell, we’re not doing a very good job of reaching any audience right now. Why don’t we just try to reach AN audience first and figure out who to target with other products later.”

I wish I could have made the case as well as you just did. The conversation might have gone better.

I’ve never been comfortable targeting a demographic. People aren’t demographics. They are interests. I never put it as well as you just did, but it something I learned well in doing rvclub.com.