Hyper-Local vs. General Blogs

[Noah Coffey]

Just curious... when you are reading blogs, how often are you reading really local blogs--such as blogs in your city/neighborhood or other local community? What are your thoughts on the value of these kinds of very local blogs to you?

[Chris Hardie]

I really enjoy local blogs (so much so that I maintain a list of them for the Richmond/Wayne County area). I've learned things about my community and the people in it that I don't think I would have learned anywhere else, and people tend to share their thoughts about "the local scene" in a slightly different way than they would at a networking event or something similar.

Of course, by maintaining a blog that's focused on local issues (as some of my entries are), you may be giving up some of the social networking and peer esteem "benefits" that come with blogging for a wider audience. But on most days, I think I'd rather be the most connected to the real human beings in my city and region; if that means spending less time connecting with as many people as possible scattered across the globe, maybe that's okay.

Chris

[Duke Snyder]

Good issue to bring to the table and good points in the first to posts.
Third post repeats a quandry question I have placed elsewhere in SI...why such a lack of response to these forums from all of our blogging membership?

[Noah Coffey]

I think a significant contributor to the problem (which I've discussed before in the forums) is the way Smaller Indiana is set up. Groups and group discussions are mostly hidden from the rest of the site. There isn't even a single place for Joe User to get a good look at all activity across the groups he is a part of. When you visit the front page of SI, you get blog posts, events, and forums up front--the goings on of groups are no where to be found.