Henderson County Now is a news blog; an Internet-only source of information for the county combining the flexibility of a full website with the community conversation of Facebook (and other social media).
The blog is the idea of journalist Michael V. Hannigan and attorney Jeff Weinstein, and comes from hundreds of late night phone calls, emails, and breakfast discussions about social media and its impact.
Although they approached the issue from different angles, the two men saw the same thing: people get their information today differently than they did just two or three years ago. While that’s not what we would call breaking news, it does raise the question, “What’s next?”
Never one to fear pushing the edge, Jeff began an experiment in October 2011 called “5 Things.” It was a weekly update of the top five stories in Henderson County. Without any fanfare and promoted only on Jeff’s personal Facebook page, 5 Things developed a following. It also gave Jeff something that every advertiser wants in the Internet age: a spot in the conversation.
At the same time, Michael was building the most active news-based Facebook community in the county at The Malakoff News (based on the platform’s interactions metric). When he left that paper in December 2012, their Facebook page had more followers than total residents in the city. He also tested out multiple blogging and social media platforms, and was the first to live blog from the sidelines at football games and at the annual Old Fiddlers’ Reunion.
This blog is the result of all those discussions and experiments. A highly social community news site with just one advertiser. The funny thing is that this “new idea” comes from the beginnings of mass media, when companies regularly produced their own radio shows.
We hope you enjoy Henderson County Now, sponsored by Weinstein Law.