AOL has been making a lot of noise about how local content bringing in local ads will be the cornerstone of its rebirth. That was theoretically the reason for buying HuffPo (i.e. apply HuffPo's mastery of SEO and user community to local content). Nobody's looking to AOL to reproduce what daily newspapers do (or used to do, anyway) in cities and towns across the U.S. but many people (myself included) were hoping for something more than content farming.
So this article, taking aim at Patch (AOL's so-so network of local blogs), makes me sad (because content farming tactics are infecting the entire internet) but also curious (because it makes it clear how hard it is to get those local ads). If local newspapers, down to the free crapola circulars you get outside the supermarket, can make a bundle on local businesses, why can't AOL? Should be sorta simple, right?
As a journalist, the issue of who is going to pay for content has become a question of "How do I create content that I can market on the Internet?" I'm getting the sense, as time goes on, that either you charge a ton for highly valuable content (Bloomberg), run a shoestring operation (Gawker) that makes (or loses) a very small amount of money or.....you content farm. Trying to invent a new model like Patch might work, but it doesn't seem like it's going to work big-time.
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