After finding inspiration in the insightful fiction from Bruce Sterling about our hyperlocal future I wrote in hyperlocal culture:
The mechanisms that will enable society to hyperlocalize, therefore allowing to grow stronger as a unique entity are still to be developed, but if the future is anything like his imagination suggests, we are going to be fine…
That kind of optimism was only hopeful, but coming across outside.in has the power of dismissing any questions about what shape the “mechanisms” that I was referring to will have. By discovering all the conversations taking place in the blogosphere and aggregating them by neighborhood they are in fact allowing the citizens from each locality to discover the personality of the place where they live. Granted, these conversations may only be focused on certain topics right now, but I have no doubt that as the platform matures and people learn to use it, the spectrum and influence of tools like this one will be very important.
If only as an early attempt to figure out which neighborhoods will develop a better-than-average awareness of their hyperlocal potential, here is outside.in top 10 bloggiest neighborhoods in the United States:
- Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, New York
- Shaw, Washington, DC
- Downtown, Los Angeles, California
- Newton, Massachusetts
- Rogers Park, Chicago, Illinois
- Pearl District, Portland, Oregon
- Watertown, Massachusetts
- Harlem, Manhattan, New York
- Potrero Hill, San Francisco, California
- Coconut Groove, Miami, Florida
Or you can check the Top 10 Bloggiest cities, although I think that metric doesn’t have as much relevance.
I can’t wait for outside.in to start reporting on the digital noise all around the world.
Traviss: I should’ve been more explicit about the fact that outside.in is only aggregating information about the US, so there is currently no way of telling if neighborhoods elsewhere are bloggier. If I had to bet I would say Japan is far ahead of the US.
Steve: watch out for all trends related to geotagging. This is the way to all things local, everywhere.
Ah, also wanted to let you know about a newsreader out there that exists that bases it’s content on what the user actually WANTS to see. It’s called ‘Sprout’. Very intuitive, quickly learns what you like to read and what doesn’t interest you. There’s a free trial on now. You can find it here: http://www.yoursprout.ca.
this is a really neat survey. I’d wonder what the Canadian statistics are. I’d imagine a lot of the more rural towns would be soaking in blogs – those farm kids have a lot on their minds and no one but the internet to tell.
I am somewhat surprised that all the bloggiest neighborhoods are in the States! Interesting. I thought Germany or France or Japan would be on the list.
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