Feelin' Neighborly in Dallas

By: Whoever said that news- papers have lost their status as social currency need only look at The Dallas Morning News. The A.H. Belo flagship paper is seeing success with its reverse publishing model by appealing to readers with what readers know best: themselves.

In 2005, the paper launched community newspapers ? distributed as part of the Saturday edition ? targeted to select ZIP codes. Currently, the Morning News publishes about 18 editions of the tabloid Neighbors Go that runs anywhere between 16 to 20 pages, depending on the area.

The concept: pure user-generated content. Readers were tentative at first in submitting pictures and stories, but quickly flooded the paper with about 500 e-mail submissions a week ? not to mention the material that people delivered personally to the Morning News' offices.

On April 1, 2007, the paper launched a series of companion community micro-sites under the heading NeighborsGo.com, through which users can submit content directly online.

"We learned that having the print before online helped solidify the brand," says Neighbors Go Publisher Diane Hartley.

Since launching, Neighbors Go now boasts 10,000 registered users who can post or read about their neighborhoods. Visitors linger on the site ? the average user spends about seven minutes per visit and typically clicks about four pages deep.

While many are drawn to the micro Web sites, Neighbors Go Managing Editor Oscar Martinez says that people still get excited by ink on paper. When he asks why they use the site, "again and again, they say 'because I want to get into print.'"

According to the Morning News, the section is profitable. The paper goes after small local advertisers like area florists and restaurants. Neighbors Go is mercifully designed to take modular ads, so sales reps can talk to potential advertisers in plain English. "Local retailers are highly susceptible to making the wrong decisions" with ads, Hartley notes. "We try to be as painless to deal with as possible."

Saturday is usually a bum day in circulation. But according to the paper's latest publisher's statement, it had on average 290,698 home-delivery subscribers ? second only to Friday, at 293,743.