The biannual ad-funded print publication is distributed borough-wide in an area already served by Social Streets’ existing, even more hyperlocal, digital properties: Roman Road LDN, Bethnal Green LDN, Whitechapel LDN and Poplar LDN.
Tabitha Stapely, Social Streets’ founder, said that print was always part of the road-map when she launched the company in 2018. Being digital first effectively prepared the ground, allowing them to develop a receptive audience, links to prospective advertisers, and to start producing content.
Social Streets C.I.C is a not-for-profit publisher (‘C.I.C’ stands for ‘community interest company’) with a mission to increase participation in the local community, using journalism to promote citizenship, community development and the local economy.
Tabitha’s own publishing background is in glossy monthlies, a far cry from hyperlocal journalism. Her first job was as an intern for GQ. Other roles included style editor at the Sunday Telegraph magazine and senior editorial roles at Red and Elle.
She worked on “amazing titles with amazing people”, but getting to her late thirties, her heart was no longer in the glossy world of beauty and fashion and she was keen to explore “this community thing I had inside me”, despite confessing to not having a clue about how local communities and councils operate.
The plight of the high street was one motivating factor. She felt keenly that a high street of 500 businesses which sustained a community of 50k people was something worth fighting for.
She saw journalism as a means of strengthening the local community, not just reporting on it. As part of what they do, Social Streets offers media training to local businesses as well as giving career opportunities to young people who might not previously have had an obvious route into the media.
Interns are trained in a socially minded form of journalism and encouraged to develop community outreach skills. Based in Tower Hamlets, with a diverse ethnic community and full of micro-businesses, journalists can’t rely on receiving press releases. They need to pound the pavements, join community groups, build trusted relationships and listen, deeply.
The ultimate aim, says Tabitha, is to “get people to fall in love with the place they live”.
They need to pound the pavements, join community groups, build trusted relationships and listen, deeply.
Appetite for locally produced news
Research suggests there is a strong, albeit not yet monetised, appetite for community-based journalism.
In a survey published in December, the Public Interest News Foundation (PINF) revealed that the public tend not to trust local news that’s produced outside their area. In a poll of 2,000 adults, only 31% said that they would trust local news that came from a news organisation based outside their area, whilst 55% said that they would not – a negative trust rating of -24%.
By contrast, almost twice as many people (58%) said that they would trust local news from an organisation that was based in the area, versus 31% who said that they would not – a positive trust rating of +27%.
Such findings are a shot in the arm for hyperlocal publishers. Matt Abbott, deputy director of the Independent Community News Network (ICNN), said: “Communities are constantly fighting to have their voices heard in a landscape dominated by London-based media. As local newspapers centralise their newsrooms in “content rooms” two or three counties away, they leave behind the trust of their audiences. Audiences feel isolated, ignored, and misrepresented. However, this survey has shown that audiences respond positively to local news that is produced by journalists who are embedded in their communities, who can provide nuance, accountability, lived experience and ultimately better journalism.”
The main challenge for hyperlocal publishers is resourcing. Previous research by PINF has shown that independent and community news publishers have large audiences but small revenues. The PINF Index of Independent News Publishing revealed that the typical turnover for an independent news publisher in the UK is around £40,000, and publishers serving local or niche communities have even lower revenues than this.
However, their latest survey should provide some encouragement to hyperlocal publishers who are looking to attract revenue from their readers. PINF asked the public how much they would be willing to pay for a quality, independent local news service? 40% said ‘nothing’ and 16% said ‘don’t know’, but 43% would be willing to pay something. The average that people are prepared to pay is £1.30 per month, but 12% would pay between £2 and £4.99 per month, and 4% of the public would be prepared to pay more than this.
60-70% of Social Streets’ revenues come from recurring membership revenues, which each of their digital sites promotes through a ‘support us’ page. Other revenues come from a business membership programme, which allows participating companies to upload user generated content, a creative agency, advertising, including on The Slice, and grant funded projects.
Money is extremely tight though and they need to upgrade their publishing platform. Tabitha is not fazed by this; it’s simply the next “mountain to climb”, which will mean looking inventively at different options and exploring partnership opportunities. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
The challenge for hyperlocal journalism is funding and, says Tabitha, this will only be solved by the sector working more closely together through organisations such as Cardiff University’s ICNN. One already launched initiative is Ping News, described as “a hyperlocal news distribution platform for ICNN members to provide greater transparency and decentralised revenues within journalism.”
One other initiative, but still in its early stages, is a possible cross-publisher collaboration media selling initiative, a way of monetising the considerable combined reach of hyperlocal publishers.
Such initiatives, allied to the passion of publishers like Social Streets, point to a brighter future for hyperlocal publishers.
You can hear Tabitha Stapely being interviewed by James Evelegh on a recent episode of The InPublishing Podcast, which was sponsored by Air Business, a leading supplier of distribution and subscription management services.
This article was first published in InPublishing magazine. If you would like to be added to the free mailing list, please register here.
