In response to my July 11 Tidbits post,
Backfence Shutdown Redux, Backfence co-founder
Mark Potts had this to say:
"Backfence absolutely did not follow a philosophy of 'merely providing a venue' and hoping community members somehow would show up to post and discuss local issues. We had a hard-working staff of editorial and community professionals in each of our communities engaging and working with community members. Such community involvement is absolutely key to making hyperlocal sites work."
Backfence did indeed employ people for community outreach. Whether their efforts were sufficient or effective is open to interpretation.
Over the last couple of years I've asked several friends and colleagues (many of them media pros) who live in Backfence communities what they thought of Backfence. The vast majority of them had never even heard of Backfence -- which may suggest outreach problems.
The same time that I received my email about Backfence...
