Problems at Patch.com

[da man]

Re: Problems at Patches.com

(journalist who also occasionally frequents this site)

Contradiction in terms.

(Sorry, Ragu)

 

[dooley_womack1]

Late I know, but good God, Ragu. Other than outing your generation, that was classic.

Patches is actually a little before my time. I think I was 2, when the song came out.

But classic night -- when I lived in Chicago in my mid to late 20s, my best friend and I (journalist who also occasionally frequents this site) were drunk one night and got to talking about the song. How perfect it is. Clarence Carter's sad voice. The over-the-top heart-wrenching story. And we may have been the only two people at that point (in the mid to late 90s) who even remembered that song, let alone could sing it word for word.

Drunk, we decided to try to get a radio station to play it for us. We called every radio station in town, including the top 40 stations with the set play lists. There wasn't a DJ who had any clue about the song, except one. And his response was something akin to, "Are you nuts? I can't play that."

We were yelling at each of them, "What kind of world is it when you can't get a radio station to play 'Patches'?!?!?"

It still was one of the funnier, stupider moments in my life and it kept us busy for an evening.

Would they at least play Strokin'?

 

[outofplace]

I think there is a lesson to be learned by us on here. I saw a lot of patch gigs, saw the $40k salary, iPhone and laptop and thought it would be a great opportunity. Almost too good to be true. But as we all know, if it is too good to be true, it probably is. And there's a reason patch.com won't be able to pay 40k, and give out iPhones like candy and survive. It's the same reason newspapers cant do it. Advertisers and readers are stretched too thin. Can't corner the market.

I think most of the people who took that deal thought, and rightfully so, that it was likely a better option than nothing or freelancing for as long as it lasts. I would hope nobody was foolish enough to leave a stable job for it, but even then, what job in journalism really is stable?

Seems a bit early to kick the dirt on it, but I can understand where that thinking comes from.

 

[WolvEagle]

We had a couple people leave stable gigs at our shop for Patch. If Patch fails, there's no room for them to come back.

 

[Stitch]

If you're working for Patch, have an escape plan ready to go. Newspapers have more stability.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

If you're working for Patch, have an escape plan ready to go. Newspapers have more stability.

Neither has any stability. At least at Patch they'll get to work from home for the next few months.

 

[Bob Cook]

In theory, Patch sounds like a great idea. Cover the most local of local news, the stuff that's being ignored as the existing daily or weekly in the area cuts back. I look at my own community's Patch site with some frequency.

The problem is, in practice, it's spending a lot to get a little. Traffic is never going to get to insane levels because you'll always be serving a niche. And because of hyperlocal, you may not be able to get advertisers to buy across sites, and certainly not on a national level. And there appears to be little promotion budget to let people know the Patch sites even exist. Heck, even if a lot of people know, you're talking, at best, probably getting 10-20% of the Internet users in your particular town to look at it every month, which isn't a lot.

 

[Johnny Chase]

To me, the biggest problem with Patch is that it's not marketed well enough. I did some freelance work for Patch for a little bit, and whatever sporting event I went to, there wasn't a single person who actually knew what it was. Go look on AOL's website, you would think they would have some advertisement. Nope. You have to actually market your product.

 

[Journalist21]

In theory, Patch sounds like a great idea. Cover the most local of local news, the stuff that's being ignored as the existing daily or weekly in the area cuts back. I look at my own community's Patch site with some frequency.

The problem is, in practice, it's spending a lot to get a little. Traffic is never going to get to insane levels because you'll always be serving a niche. And because of hyperlocal, you may not be able to get advertisers to buy across sites, and certainly not on a national level. And there appears to be little promotion budget to let people know the Patch sites even exist. Heck, even if a lot of people know, you're talking, at best, probably getting 10-20% of the Internet users in your particular town to look at it every month, which isn't a lot.

I wonder if Patch would be more successful on a broader level. At the current level, you're only going to get the handful people who are steadfast town residents along with the occasional person. For example, the commenters are the same people all of the time. There isn't much of a draw, especially given that most people think you're trying to trick them by saying you work for Patch.

With that being said, I hope Patch is able to continue. It's nice to get local news on a day-by-day basis with town government and sports events. On the current business plan, however, I doubt it'll be around in a couple of years.

 

[LongTimeListener]

I wonder if Patch would be more successful on a broader level. At the current level, you're only going to get the handful people who are steadfast town residents along with the occasional person. For example, the commenters are the same people all of the time. There isn't much of a draw, especially given that most people think you're trying to trick them by saying you work for Patch.

With that being said, I hope Patch is able to continue. It's nice to get local news on a day-by-day basis with town government and sports events. On the current business plan, however, I doubt it'll be around in a couple of years.

No. Patch sucks, and the only reason it saw the light of day is that the egomaniac who thought of it had the money to fund it himself. If it were broader, it would then be nothing but a poor imitation of the local newspaper's Web site.

 

[RickStain]

The problem, as always, is not finding eyes. It's finding advertisers to pay for those eyes at levels that can pay for full-time staff.

 

[podunk press]

We had a few people leave for Patch.

None of the people who left would likely be rehired at our place.

If you are a Patch editor operating a lousy, mistake filled site, the community daily down the road is going to notice. And you're not going to get hired by them.