With passion, hyper-local is easy

I caught Amy Melrose, the creator of hyper-local blog Free in DC, at the Social Media Breakfast in DC this week. She had some great tips to help you write about your community and get started doing local on your own.

The topic was hyper-local blogging this Monday. The three blogs represented had a simple message for anyone interested in new media. Be passionate, be involved, the rest is easy.

The authors of WeLoveDC broke it all down into a simple equation: “Voice times obsession equals an audience.”

After the event I cornered Amy Melrose, the author of Free in DC, to talk about why she blogs local events, how she picks up leads, and ask if she had any tips for student journalists interested in doing the same.

Melrose hit it right on the nose: be authentic, blog about what you care about, find a niche and become an expert. Follow your passion and you’ll find that the mechanics of getting online and starting to write are not as hard as you thought.

Three blogs presented at the event. WeLoveDC, which covers the whole DC metro area. There was Free in DC, a blog that broadcasts free events in the DC metro area. The final blog was Borderstan, interesting in that it covers a very small area of a few blocks. For all of them it came down to turning their passion into their blog.

If you want to hear more about the excellent Social Media Breakfast, American University student Alex Priest has a great post up. There’s also an embed of the event’s UStream at the bottom.