DISQUS

A VC: Blogging In The 'Burbs

  • billerickson · 1 year ago
    Someone recently sent me a link to GeoPress, a Wordpress plugin for geo-coding your posts: http://georss.org/geopress

    It's an easy way to add GeoRSS to your posts, which will get them picked up by outside.in.
  • fredwilson · 1 year ago
    That's cool

    One more reason I wish I was on wordpress
  • centernetworks · 1 year ago
    what are you using? if you wanted wordpress, why not switch when you relaunched the site?
  • fredwilson · 1 year ago
    I have to get google to move my page rank/juice from avc.blogs.com to
    avc.com before I can think about switching from typepad to wordpress or
    something else
  • centernetworks · 1 year ago
    gotcha
  • Eben Thurston · 1 year ago
    Fred, do you have a plan for migrating pagerank to the new URLs? It looks like the old URLs still resolve to blogs.com. I think you'd need to put 301 redirects on all the old URLs in order to transfer all the juice.
  • fredwilson · 1 year ago
    Typepad won't support that. We've asked for it but they won't/can't do it

    So we are using google's webmaster tools, sitemaps, etc to get google to
    realize that avc.com is now the primary domain

    It will take time, but I think it will work
  • Pawel T · 1 year ago
    It is possible that this can push also the local business into internet as well as change the way that people acquire information about their neighborhood. It is easy to use Internet global reach, maybe this can be the way to use its local reach as well?
  • kidmercury · 1 year ago
    a service that enables professional and profitable placeblogging is IMO needed -- something that will enable placebloggers to intermediate local transactions, and earn a decent income with a relatively small audience. this is why i think placeblogging is so exciting; the economic implications are epic. though i think we need some innovation in blog CMS's before we can really embark down this path.
  • reelspit · 1 year ago
    thx 4 sharing. Nice 2 see NJ representing well in the hyperlocal blogging scene from the times article. The movement makes total sense 2 me, think locally, act locally. Our town of Maplewood, NJ has a decent on-line bulletin board & i could see that being used as a foundation placeblogging out here. Gives me a bit of inspiration. I look 4ward 2 seeing how the trend continues 2 grow. peace
  • Greg Clayman · 1 year ago
    I'm a huge fan of the hyper-local blog. I probably spend as much time on http://brooklynheightsblog.com/ as I do anywhere.
  • Andrew Hillman · 1 year ago
    I think placeblogging has a lot of potential but it does seem like a really tough nut to crack. Perhaps these blogs need to be injected into community related sites in order to reach more readers. Like we've discussed, every Homeowner Association should implement a section for placeblogging news. Sort of like a community newspaper dropping off the weekly in everyones mailbox.
  • ebrittwebb · 1 year ago
    I'm pleased to see this attention to hyperlocal/place blogging. On a related note, I'd like to point out what Social Capital, Inc. is doing above and beyond this to organize local community programs, connected by a website, not only to facilitate hyperlocal/place blogging, but to actually engage people through both physical and virtual activities to rebuild the "social fabric" of our communities. SCI currently runs flagship programs in Woburn, Dorchester, and Lynn, MA. I'm helping them to create a new one in Newton, MA.
  • Liz · 1 year ago
    I'd blog about life in Morris County, NJ but it's all about real estate prices and soccer game schedules. The descriptive words I'd use are affluent and sleepy. The most exciting thing that happens is when the MidTown Direct is delayed or there is a car accident in the Starbucks parking lot. But it seems like a lot of people prefer pretty & dull to urban & stressful (both good & bad stress).
  • fredwilson · 1 year ago
    Different strokes for different folks
  • Liz · 1 year ago
    I realize to a lot of people small town life is paradise. I'm just a fish out of water. But I think you're idea of locally focused blogs is intersting. Some local newspapers are already hosting discussion forums, this is the logical next step.
  • Johndmc · 1 year ago
    As a regular reader and commenter on WestportNow.com , one of the local blogs mentioned in the NYT article, I can verify the power of a local news blog to shape and influence the local public debate. It is a great vehicle for getting people aware of local meetings and issues; we used our comments on the blog as one of our main tools to get 300+ people out for a public hearing on a local neighborhood zoning issue. I am also a member of the local legislative body (Westport RTM) and WestportNow.com serves as one of the tools many of us use to let us know what people in town are thinking.

    Unfortunately, as the blog is owned and controlled by the town's First Selectman (Mayor) issues covered on the blog are oftentimes influenced by local political choices. When politics don't rule the agenda, it is a great tool for the community. When politics do influence editorial decisions, the debate does suffer.