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Our readers are often fascinated by where they live, and they love nothing more than to share their own memories about their town. Messenger Post Managing Editor - News Allison Cooper saw Facebook groups popping up called "What I remember about ..." The Messenger Post group, based in Canandaigua, N.Y., is mining the groups for story ideas, and plans to cover reunions in the towns. Have you seen similar groups in your area? Check out how the capitalize on this social media trend.
| How did you find out about the “What I remember about ...”? |
I found it on Facebook -- there is one for each of (at least) three towns in our county; our highest circulation towns. A former teacher tagged me on Facebook and asked me to help them put together a book of memories. It made me think our news organization could have a larger role. |
| Did many of your towns already have something like this going? How does it work exactly? Does it use Facebook groups? |
Yes, it uses Facebook groups. The one from my hometown has 800 members and is growing. |
| What role is your news organization taking to move these forward? |
We have jumped in and asked for local reps from the first town (my hometown) to work with our reporter to put together a print and online package that features each town. The groups have old photos and memorabilia, as well. It depends on the amount of content we get, but we could even consider a special section with local advertising around these projects. We are in the very young stage right now. I put a callout on Messenger Post Facebook letting others know we are interested in their memories. |
| What coverage plans do you have for any get-togethers? |
We will report, tweet, photograph and video the get-togethers; creating a follow-up to the original package introducing the groups and their memories. |
| What kind of response have you had from readers? |
Thus far, my hometown is so excited; they are talking on Facebook about partnering with the paper, adding more members to the group and even publishing a book of the memories. They have asked for my help. And they keep tagging me on Facebook so I'm checking in with them often. |
| Why do you think this is a great move for our newspapers to get involved in? |
This is great on so many levels -- first and foremost because it ties us to the community via a project that is evoking a real sense of place with so many people. These are their memories and they are fascinating, funny, heartbreaking and really represent the core of community journalism. The possibilities are infinite but resources are not, so a strategy is called for to have the groups do some heavy lifting. |
| Anything else I’ve missed? |
I think this has potential to grow so many stories. The groups are talking about old haunts, former teachers and issues from bullying to historic, tragic and celebratory events. It is one of those projects that can take on a life of its own, so I think getting the GROUP (or a committee representing the group) to partner with the paper, you can let them do some (much) of the work. |
