3 ms·

I actually don't think the Internet has been a good substitute for a local distribution of information. It's too global and too big. There's people who aren't f

I actually don't think the Internet has been a good substitute for a local distribution of information. It's too global and too big. There's people who aren't from a neighborhood talking about it and skewing information about that neighborhood. Portland's supposed to be literally a BLM-flagged wasteland or something, y'know? I'd really love for there to be a local newspaper that tells me a new bakery opened in town, or that the elementary school passed a new measure for students, or that there's going to be an art exhibit presented by some local artists. I want to know when there are some foster kitties looking for temporary homes, and a little articles about people who go all-out on halloween decor. The internet doesn't give this to me, not without a load of muck.

wvenable 3y ago
My go to solution for that was reddit.com/r/somecommunity which was local enough to have posts about lost cats and dogs. More than once local media near me has literally just published a story that was first posted as text to Reddit.
- EatingWithForks 3y ago
  I've tried this strategy but often r/somecommunity is either never used by people who live there/is too small to be useful, but the bigger neighborhood/city is absolutely astroturfed by people who don't live there.
  - wvenable 3y ago
    I do live in a country with a disproportionately large Reddit population. I guess you just have to get everyone together in one place -- but that place could still be on the Internet.
JohnFen 3y ago
> I actually don't think the Internet has been a good substitute for a local distribution of information. It started off looking very promising for that sort of thing -- but when people fled for the likes of large social media properties, that killed things dead. Facebook, Reddit, etc., are very bad at encouraging local community.
- admax88qqq 3y ago
  I disagree. I'm a member if many local communities on Reddit and Facebook. Where I live, Facebook Marketplace is _the_ place to go to buy and sell used goods. And it is absolutely hopping in my community. So much waste is averted from landfills due to the platform Facebook provides, which has good search, and a reasonable UX. If all we had were the old school classifieds in the newspaper, I doubt nearly as much activity would happen. HN just loves to shit on social media and lament the fall of old school local news, but I think that's just rose coloured glasses. Through Facebook I do local second hand shopping, I discovered and am and member of several local niche sports and activity groups. And I see local news through the eyes and mouths of locals talking about it rather than what the one or two employed local journalists think. If all you do is scroll /r/all or your Instagram feed than sure you're not getting local info, but you get what you consume. And I say this as someone who doesn't like Meta/Facebook and would delete it in a heartbeat if there was a viable alternative, but the matter stands it _does_ support and encourage local communities and content in some places.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    It might depend on the community, then. In my area, the big social media outfits are not useful in that way at all. (Except for selling stuff on Facebook, but that's not what I was talking about.) Facebook and Reddit are the only ones I'm familiar with for this, though, and they both have the same problem -- they are dominated by a very small number of people.
    - brightlancer 3y ago
      > It might depend on the community. Always. But maybe a factor is the size of the "community"? A hub city has X number of residents plus Y folks who work there plus Z folks who live in suburbs but are counted as part of the metropolis. OTOH a small city is small, so the folks may share more in common -- and thus push out interlopers and ignore noise makers.
      - JohnFen 3y ago

wvenable 3y ago

My go to solution for that was reddit.com/r/somecommunity which was local enough to have posts about lost cats and dogs. More than once local media near me has literally just published a story that was first posted as text to Reddit.

EatingWithForks 3y ago
I've tried this strategy but often r/somecommunity is either never used by people who live there/is too small to be useful, but the bigger neighborhood/city is absolutely astroturfed by people who don't live there.
- wvenable 3y ago
  I do live in a country with a disproportionately large Reddit population. I guess you just have to get everyone together in one place -- but that place could still be on the Internet.

JohnFen 3y ago

> I actually don't think the Internet has been a good substitute for a local distribution of information. It started off looking very promising for that sort of thing -- but when people fled for the likes of large social media properties, that killed things dead. Facebook, Reddit, etc., are very bad at encouraging local community.

admax88qqq 3y ago
I disagree. I'm a member if many local communities on Reddit and Facebook. Where I live, Facebook Marketplace is _the_ place to go to buy and sell used goods. And it is absolutely hopping in my community. So much waste is averted from landfills due to the platform Facebook provides, which has good search, and a reasonable UX. If all we had were the old school classifieds in the newspaper, I doubt nearly as much activity would happen. HN just loves to shit on social media and lament the fall of old school local news, but I think that's just rose coloured glasses. Through Facebook I do local second hand shopping, I discovered and am and member of several local niche sports and activity groups. And I see local news through the eyes and mouths of locals talking about it rather than what the one or two employed local journalists think. If all you do is scroll /r/all or your Instagram feed than sure you're not getting local info, but you get what you consume. And I say this as someone who doesn't like Meta/Facebook and would delete it in a heartbeat if there was a viable alternative, but the matter stands it _does_ support and encourage local communities and content in some places.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  It might depend on the community, then. In my area, the big social media outfits are not useful in that way at all. (Except for selling stuff on Facebook, but that's not what I was talking about.) Facebook and Reddit are the only ones I'm familiar with for this, though, and they both have the same problem -- they are dominated by a very small number of people.
  - brightlancer 3y ago
    > It might depend on the community. Always. But maybe a factor is the size of the "community"? A hub city has X number of residents plus Y folks who work there plus Z folks who live in suburbs but are counted as part of the metropolis. OTOH a small city is small, so the folks may share more in common -- and thus push out interlopers and ignore noise makers.
    - JohnFen 3y ago