Westborough Patch

This afternoon I was on twitter (yes I know I have been very sporadic in my tweets) but I was on twitter and noticed one of the suggestions for me to follow was Westborough Patch.  Since I am always looking for local updates and information sources I figured I would check it out.  I had not heard of "Patch" before.

Ok so maybe I missed a memo that Westborough Patch was launching, but I am busy sometimes... I have to say, I am very impressed at this new online news site.  Seems to have regular updates, Westborough news and events, and from what I have read lots of great information.  There is also a Northborough Patch as well.

The sites are simple and easy to navigate.  There are also matching Facebook pages and twitter accounts for each site.  Their coverage of the Polar Plunge was solid and overall the only thing I would say is not appealing to me is that Patch as a company is owned by AOL.  Sure I use AIM like so many others, but the last time I thought of AOL I was using one of their cds as a drink coaster.

I hope AOL has learned from some of their past endeavors and keeps Patch fresh and not overly bogged down with ads and bots.  I think there is a lot of potential for a strong corporate funded journalistic team that focused on digital media.  Something with funding that can allow local journalists to be proud and promote the local community.

To speculate for a minute, I think there is a lot of opportunity for really interesting social media interconnections blending online and real world experiences and interactions.  It is the next logical step in the digital media space.  It is possible that a site like patch operating nationally (and even globally) but focused locally can be a way to organize and encourage these connections.  We'll see...I actually teach a graduate course  on new media technologies and how to integrate them.  At least I need to add Patch to some of my lectures and we can see how it plays out.