Chicago Tribune tries the YourHub model of local
The trib launched a community site today, triblocal.com. It looks like what a newspaper thinks would work for the model of community participation, and in the write-up the Tribune gives the site they mention TribLocal takes its cues from YourHub. The article also includes choice phrases like “taking a tentative step into a brave new world of community-generated journalism” and “The move comes at a time when the financial outlook for newspapers has never been darker.”
There’s nothing remarkable about the way they organize or present information on the site, but heck, does there need to be? They’re just starting. The one interesting bit: Their member profiles allow you to share how many children at home you have. I hope they do something non-ad-related with that information.
Mediafade writes an extremely cynical post about TribLocal, calling it “a disaster in the making” and “ill-conceived.” That feels unwarranted and premature … the only reason I saw to complain was the bevy of broken links on the site. Sure, it’s their first day, but it looks like there’s a fundamental problem with the way TribLocal’s CMS writes links on the “web root” level (Go to the home page, click “Learn More,” and try clicking the “share stories,” “post photos,” “post events,” “news,” “events,” “photos,” “how to use this site” links).