Even though the Web makes us all feel like citizens of the world, what matters is often local. Our neighborhoods and neighbors have a huge impact. There is a brand-new platform, created by Instivate, a company run by one of our long-time friends and neighbors, that aims to give every neighborhood a site for sharing local news. It's called Instant Journalist.
Here's the scenario: You sign up for Instant Journalist - it has a monthly fee that's linked to the size of the site. Right off the shelf, the site is ready for you and your neighbors to start sharing stories, photos and videos, complete with map integration.
Instant Journalist also has a bunch of cool features that make the site easy to customize. Here's my favorite:
You can right-click on almost any text on the site and change the copy. If you don't like the tab that says "Your Neighborhood", you can change it in two clicks - no geekiness required.
You can see a demo of Instant Journalist here or a screencast on the posting process here. It's new, so if you have feedback or thoughts the folks at Instivate would love to hear it. Congrats to Scott and Instivate for getting it out the door.