Just last month, hyperlocal citizen journalism site Blottr was boasting figures of 60,000 registered users and 1,000 contributors. The site, which launched in the U.K. in August 2010, is making news again with the recent launch of its France-based site.
Blottr founder Adam Baker said,
We are really excited about bringing citizen journalism to France, a country with a deep-rooted, passionate and traditional set of values when it comes to publishing and the consumption of news.
We enter France at a time when the appetite of the public to report news, coupled with technological advancements that enable people to report it, has never been so great. We look forward to giving the people of France a voice and a platform to report news they witness for the betterment of all.
Earlier this month, The Huffington Post announced a strategic partnership with the French daily newspaper Le Monde to form Le Huffington Post. The timing by Blottr and HuffPo couldn’t be better. A study published last week by polling group CSA indicates that the French are catching up to Americans in regards to online news consumption. One contributing factor is the free, public Internet access in major cities, including all public parks and gardens in Paris.
Blottr tops 1.4 million unique visits per month within the U.K., and is expected to add 250,000 unique monthly visits and 500,000 monthly page views with the new site additions. Within the next six months, Blottr plans to expand into 50 cities in 10 different countries. The launch in Germany is planned for this week.
Source: “Le Huff Post to revamp French media,” SmartPlanet, 10/13/11
Source: “UK website claims 1,000 ‘citizen journalists’,” Press Gazette, 09/27/11
Source: “Citizen journalism site Blottr expands into France and Germany,” Journalism.co.uk, 10/17/11
Source: “French increasingly turn to Internet for news, study says,” SmartPlanet, 10/21/11
Image by Quinn Dombrowski (quinn.anya), used under its Creative Commons license.