MailTribune.com and DailyTidings.com Launch Hyper-Local Social-Networking Sites
31 Mars 2009 - 10:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
MEDFORD, Ore., March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Ottaway's Southern Oregon
Media Group has launched a pair of social networking sites as a
means of fostering community conversation and connecting area
residents around issues and interests that matter most to them.
MailTribune.com and DailyTidings.com launched
http://www.roguecurrent.com/ and http://www.connectashland.com/,
respectively, in early March. The sites were built to see how
Southern Oregon and Northern California respond to the opportunity
to connect on a local social-networking platform. Built on the Ning
platform, each of the sites offers members the opportunity to
create their own pages, join interest groups and post blogs,
photos, videos and music for others to see. In the first few weeks
members have formed interest groups around such diverse topics as
"green" living, gluten-free diets, history, bicycling, computer
repair, pets and the arts. "Although http://www.roguecurrent.com/
and http://www.connectashland.com/ are similar to established
social-networking sites like Facebook, people who live here and
join are likely to see many more familiar faces and discussions
about issues relevant to our region," said Julie Wurth, online
editor for the Mail Tribune. "Our goal for the site is to connect
all of Ashland in a single online community," said Mike Green, web
editor for Ashland Daily Tidings. "We want to become the first city
in the nation to connect its residents online in a single social
networking site that caters to our local community." Southern
Oregon Media Group's primary interest in this is to inspire and
create a home for conversation about the community.
DailyTidings.com also has recently launched Ashland Nightlife , a
multimedia guide to things to do in Ashland that includes videos
produced by Southern Oregon University students. ABOUT OTTAWAY
NEWSPAPERS Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. (http://www.ottaway.com/), is
the Local Media Group of Dow Jones. Ottaway operates eight
community media groups around the country - including the Southern
Oregon Media Group - that collectively are comprised of 8 daily and
15 weekly newspapers, several lifestyle magazines and other niche
publications, and a multitude of affiliated Web sites in seven
states. Media Contact: Sean Polay Product Manager, Distributed
Media 774.313.6093 ABOUT DOW JONES Dow Jones & Company
(http://www.dowjones.com/) is a News Corporation company (NYSE:
NWS, NWS.A; ASX: NWS, NWSLV; http://www.newscorp.com/). Dow Jones
is a leading provider of global business news and information
services. Its Consumer Media Group publishes The Wall Street
Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch and the Far Eastern Economic Review.
Its Enterprise Media Group includes Dow Jones Newswires, Dow Jones
Factiva, Dow Jones Client Solutions, Dow Jones Indexes and Dow
Jones Financial Information Services. Dow Jones owns 50% of
SmartMoney and 33% of STOXX Ltd. and provides news content to radio
stations in the U.S. DATASOURCE: Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. CONTACT:
Sean Polay, Product Manager, Distributed Media, , +1-774.313.6093
Web Site: http://www.ottaway.com/
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