Wick newspapers to establish neighborhood social media platform

More options for local news readers in the Teche Area will be coming through a new partnership between The Daily Iberian’s parent company, Wick Communications, and Google.

Google announced last week that it will be providing funding for an initiative to create a journalist-curated, hyperlocal social media platform to develop critical community connections in Wick’s news markets across the country.

Wick’s Neighborhood Assisted Bureau Reporting (NABUR) project will establish a responsible, journalist-curated neighborhood social media platform for Wick-served communities based out of Fergus Falls, Minnesota, and Tucson.

Additionally, journalists will be expected to cultivate healthy discourse in the Midwest communities of Fergus Falls and Breckenridge, Minn., Wahpeton, N.D., and the southern Arizona communities of Sierra Vista, Bisbee, and Benson, while bringing community members together in real life for events and discussions.

Eventually, the chain plans to expand the effort to all of its properties.

“We’re honored to be recipients of the inaugural GNI Challenge, assisting our advancement of community information and connections through a locally monitored, socially responsible neighborhood platform,” said Francis Wick, president and CEO of Wick Communications.

The news was part of Google’s larger announcement of recipients of its inaugural North America Google News Initiative Challenge funding to support projects that drive digital innovation and develop new business models. The initiative used a highly competitive process of review, interviews and a jury selection to evaluate 269 applications across North America. The result is the financing of 34 projects in 17 states and provinces to the tune of $5.8 million.

The Google News Initiative is providing funding for 70 percent of the Wick project, which will include the hiring of two journalist product managers in each region to assist in the development and cultivation of the NABUR platform and conversations.

“The popularity of social media platforms such as Facebook and Nextdoor demonstrates there is an interest in a conversation-first approach to local news and information,” said Sean Fitzpatrick, Wick Digital Media Director. “In our pilot usability testing, though, potential subscribers have indicated a willingness to provide financial support for local content that provides context and answers the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of these conversations.”

Wick Editorial Director Dan Shearer sees a unique opportunity for traditional newsrooms in the digital space.

“We’ve observed that social media seems to generate more questions than it answers,” Shearer said. “Our journalists are trained to find the answers to these questions.”

Google announced that a second round of the North American Innovation Challenge will open for applications in 2020.

Wick Communications is a family-owned community media company with newspapers, websites, magazines and specialty publications in 10 states. The home office is in Sierra Vista, Arizona. In addition to The Daily Iberian, Wick publishes newspapers in Arizona, Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota and Washington.