Hyperlocal News: 5 Tips From Finland

Websites offering hyperlocal news are flourishing in parts of Finland and Sweden and editors shared the secrets of their success at a recent summit.

Speaking at last week’s World Editors Forum in Gothenburg, news editor Elin Olofsson discussed setting up a hyperlocal project with her newspaper Osterunds Posten.

According to the Guardian, the Heartproject initiative comprises eight hyperlocal sites with content supplied for free by local bloggers.

Olofsson reported that the project increased visitor counts by 60%, attracted the interest of advertisers and generated goodwill for the newspaper.

Editor-in-chief Reetta Merilainen also relayed a success story from her Finnish newspaper’s foray into the world of hyperlocal news.

Helsingin Sanomat’s Oma Kaupunki site provides searchable public data and event/restaurant listings and attracts 60,000 unique users every week.

Merilainen asserted that this kind of content is an ideal way to create communities and outlined her five principles for providing hyperlocal news:

1

“Hyperlocal is not only about geography it is also about mental proximity.”

2

“You must cover issues which are really close and relevant, touching or at least funny.”

3

“Newspaper and its website are there to serve and to connect people.”

4

“You can easily combine the role of a watch dog and a guide dog.”

5

“Ivory Towers are history, you mush be ready for close encounters - virtually and physically!”