Google to promote ‘hyperlocal’ news in new app
The internet has global reach, but smaller communities thrive within it. A new offering, Bulletin, aims to tap into that micro-market for focused reporting. Here’s what PR pros should know.
Google wants to help communities share their local stories—and that’s great news for PR pros.
The app, called Bulletin, will source articles from citizen journalists, though it will enable anyone to upload stories and videos through a mobile app.
According to the footage above from blogger Sami Cone who reported that she was at Google’s Bulletin launch event in Nashville, users will be able to update their blogs continuously (as you would with a liveblog post) and see viewership stats to know where readers are coming from.
It’ll be interesting to see how this rolls out and fits into Google’s strategy for grabbing more eyeballs through its News and Search services. Beyond getting people to try Bulletin when they’re starting out reporting local news, it’ll have to incentivize them for sticking around once they get the hang of it and feel the need to grow an audience for themselves.
Google’s app is hosted on a website that is up and running, so the curious can take a peek.
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