And we’re back…
Chicago Critical Mass going through Logan Square - Friday, May 25
A lot has happened in the neighborhood since the last time I posted. And instead of trying to catch up on it all, I’ll focus on what’s happening in the coming summer months.
In my day job, I work at a very big internet company and we’ve had some bumps in the road over the last few months. It reached a point where we were asked to work longer hours, be more productive and to spend less time on “non work websites”. Things became quite hectic to say the least, and fearing for my job (and my sanity), I realized something had to give. I had spent several months and countless hours building a grassroots following for the blog, and although I hated the feeling of having to put it on the back burner, it’s what I had to do for a while.
Things are still hectic, and probably will be for a while. I’ve learned that this is pretty much the nature of working in an environment that is changing constantly and growing at such a fast pace. However, finding that balance is a challenge and does take time. Also, vacation time helps a lot.
With this said, independent publishing also comes with its challenges. It takes a lot of time, energy, effort and creativity to meet with people, write posts, and promote your work. And hyperlocal (as it’s called) has become somewhat of a beacon for larger publishers, and I’ve noticed a lot of newer neighborhood blogs that have sprouted in the last several months. There’s very little to no money in independent publishing, unless of course it’s your full time job and you’re able to sell advertising as well as tend to your content creation duties. Bloggers have all kinds of little tricks to boost their clickthrough rates, page visites, etc, but I hadn’t really ever considered monetizing as a priority. Companies like the Tribune now have outsourced writers who aggregate content from smaller independent content producers to post on their local “blog”. At one point, I was approached by another blogger who had teamed up with several other independent local blogs to create an advertising network. I would have had to completely rebuild up the blog from scratch utilizing actual hosting (and not Tumblr), and hire some folks to help with it. After a few weeks, I heard back from him and the network had been closed. Even with pulling in over a million collective page views, it was still not enough to attract sustained advertising.
So why even do it? Generally the “movers and the shakers” in a Chicago community are small business owners, the Aldermen and staff, community organizers, local school councils, and the folks in the neighborhood Chamber of Commerce. As a twenty-something with very little money, opening a small business would be very exciting, but likely not practical considering the state of the financial system. However, the internet offers a unique opportunity for expression, connecting neighbors with each other and to highlight things in the neighborhood that others may be interested in. Starting a blog is easy and cheap, and if you’re creative and keep plugging away at it, people will begin to notice. As a person who grew up with the internet, and participated in the various evolutions of social media, I figured this would be a good way to start. It’s a really great feeling when you meet the Alderman, the Director of the Chamber or random people in the street, and they know you through your work. It certainly inspires you to do more, and try to keep the interest active.
With all of this said, I’ve put too much into the blog to let it slip into the archives of the internet. However, posting three or four times a day is a challenge and so I’ll likely be altering the format and will be more likely to post once per day - perhaps every other day. Because Facebook is nice and simple, I’ll likely be sharing a lot more stuff on the Facebook page. Again, the purpose of the blog was not to generate page views but to share information. If you’re not already following Chiboulevards on Facebook, be sure to go ahead and do that by checking out the little banner on the right side of the page.
So thanks to everyone who has followed the blog, contributed and met with me to share your story.
- AJ
photo by Flickr user 
