Patch has announced its plan to expand into New York State, with eleven new sites in Long Island and Westchester County scheduled for launch in the next three months, according to a press release. Patch already has twelve community sites in New Jersey and Connecticut and is starting two more this week, in Livingston, NJ and Ridgefield, CT.

Patch, owned by AOL, aims to provide local news coupled with information about local events, local businesses and more, the idea being that it is a one-stop shop for people wanting to know what's going on in their local community. Each site has one professional journalist/editor who is based in or near the community and whose work is supplemented by that of local contributors. A management team is based in New York City and Phil Meyer and Jeff Jarvis comprise the editorial advisory board.

"Launching in New York is a major milestone for Patch and we are very happy to enter our third state and one of the most exciting media markets in the US," said Warren Webster, president of Patch, in the release. "At a time when more and more outlets are charging for online content, our users have free access to professionally written news and directory information. We know that residents of Long Island and Westchester County will value all that Patch has to offer, as do our current users in New Jersey and Connecticut." Long Island-based daily Newsday just announced that it was to start charging its readers a considerable fee for access to its online content.

Patch will launch four sites for the Long Island communities of Bellmore, Garden City, Merrick and Port Washington; and seven sites in the Westchester County communities of Bedford-Katonah, Chappaqua-Mount Kisco, Harrison, Larchmont-Mamaroneck, Rye, Scarsdale and Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow, by the end of the year. Additionally, Patch is continuing its expansion in New Jersey and Connecticut, with sites expected to come to Basking Ridge, Chatham, Madison, Springfield and The Caldwells in New Jersey; and to Westport, Connecticut.

Hyperlocal news, focused on specific small communities, has been touted many times over the past year or so as the future of journalism. A hyperlocal publication gives people the news that concerns them and their community directly, and that they are unlikely to find elsewhere. It also has significant potential for monetisation, either through charging directly or through targeted local advertising. Another plus is that local contributors are likely to be easy to find. And indeed, it is an idea that seems to be catching on not only in the US, but also across the Atlantic, where papers such as the Guardian are looking into the idea of hyperlocal blogs, and the Nase Adresa project in the Czech Republic has been pioneering the concept of local 'news cafes.'

Source: Patch press release