Earlier, I reported that the historic media giant, Trinity Mirror, was adandoning national print newspapers.  They have recently announced plans to roll out a national network of hyperlocal community websites, (Geo domains).

These local sites will carry a mixture of news from Trinity Mirror’s papers, citizen journalism and other user-generated content.  They started experimenting with this strategy in December 2006 with 22 sites.  Traffic growth and the level of contributors have proven the experiment a big success.   

This is really amazing news when you think about how traditional print media companys have done business historically.  This is the first time that a major traditional media company is targeting local communities through a network of geo websites, and then publishing local papers with user-generated content and citizen journalism. 

Traditional media has joined the ranks of the Geo domain industry.  And oddly enough, the Europeans are the first to see the value in executing this strategy of reaching local through geo domains.  The strategic launch of a geo network will allow Trinity Mirror to recruit local advertisers and later, have the capability of recruiting national advertisers to advertise throughout the network. 

Great validation for the Geo domain industry.

(via guardian.co.uk)