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Please make it clear earlier its US specific. If I go to waitlist, it asks for my ZIP code, showing greyed out 12345, nor does it allow me to select any country

by Fnoord 6y ago

Please make it clear earlier its US specific. If I go to waitlist, it asks for my ZIP code, showing greyed out 12345, nor does it allow me to select any country. 12345 isn't the format we use here. Kind of an odd way to say 'we don't serve your kind here'. That being said, I heard in a local podcast about an initiative for local news platform, but more to get directly reporters to get paid instead of a middle man as newspaper (the platform just allowed to select your city, and they had themselves very low margins). Margins for local news are already really thin due to lack of amount of potential interest. Some is even state sponsored. Its a tough market for sure. I forgot the name of the platform (it was partially still being build ie. only a number of pilot cities), which is kind of telling, I guess.

nillium 6y ago
Apologies -- we are US specific at the moment. We have nothing against other countries, of course; but this requires us building relationships with individual news organizations and reporters, and we have to start somewhere -- so we are starting closer to home. We're journalists ourselves, and know the challenges well. This project was really born out of our frustration seeing so many local newspapers in the US filing for bankruptcy, or being hollowed out by hedge funds. We want local news to succeed, and a lot of that has to do with reclaiming some of the traffic and ad revenue now going to those who are not doing the reporting.
- Fnoord 6y ago
  Thanks, and good luck! I can't remember the initiative launched in my country, but I did find a website which has a similar implementation [1]. Its only in Dutch though. The icons above read: Timeline, Small Facts, 911 emergencies, News, Business, Bankruptcies, Wanted, Video, Buildings (literally "look inside"), Airbnb, Events, Permits The icons are standardized on every city page, something I dig. The timeline is shown by default. People can click on their city/town and even their neighborhood. After I wrote this, I saw another one, Drimble [2]. I like that even better than Ozoo (the features seem to be on par I just prefer the UI and colours), but I haven't used either TBH. I don't believe either of these is the one I heard on the podcast. Also, I'm not quite sure how these websites arrange the rights fair and square, and since we're talking about local business and the little men I find that important. I think they get away with it by quoting, which falls under fair use, and then linking to the original source. That's not exactly the same as your product, nor the one I heard in the podcast. [1] https://www.oozo.nl/gemeenten/nieuws https://www.oozo.nl/gemeenten/nieuws [2] https://drimble.nl https://drimble.nl

by Fnoord 6y ago

nillium 6y ago

Apologies -- we are US specific at the moment. We have nothing against other countries, of course; but this requires us building relationships with individual news organizations and reporters, and we have to start somewhere -- so we are starting closer to home. We're journalists ourselves, and know the challenges well. This project was really born out of our frustration seeing so many local newspapers in the US filing for bankruptcy, or being hollowed out by hedge funds. We want local news to succeed, and a lot of that has to do with reclaiming some of the traffic and ad revenue now going to those who are not doing the reporting.

Fnoord 6y ago
Thanks, and good luck! I can't remember the initiative launched in my country, but I did find a website which has a similar implementation [1]. Its only in Dutch though. The icons above read: Timeline, Small Facts, 911 emergencies, News, Business, Bankruptcies, Wanted, Video, Buildings (literally "look inside"), Airbnb, Events, Permits The icons are standardized on every city page, something I dig. The timeline is shown by default. People can click on their city/town and even their neighborhood. After I wrote this, I saw another one, Drimble [2]. I like that even better than Ozoo (the features seem to be on par I just prefer the UI and colours), but I haven't used either TBH. I don't believe either of these is the one I heard on the podcast. Also, I'm not quite sure how these websites arrange the rights fair and square, and since we're talking about local business and the little men I find that important. I think they get away with it by quoting, which falls under fair use, and then linking to the original source. That's not exactly the same as your product, nor the one I heard in the podcast. [1] https://www.oozo.nl/gemeenten/nieuws https://www.oozo.nl/gemeenten/nieuws [2] https://drimble.nl https://drimble.nl