lisathewaitress
SoHud
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In responding to the "Columbus Futurists" post, I started thinking about those who had an influence over younger Columbusites.
Aside from CU, what locally-produced content are kids reading online these days? Actually it doesn't have to be online.
I'm just trying to gauge exactly how out of touch with the under 34 crowd the city of Columbus is. My guess is pretty out of touch.
osulew
My house...in the middle of my street
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I fit in the under 34 category...annnnnnd I read...lessee...
CU (duh)
Done Waiting
Hungrywoolf
Taco Trucks Blog
Alt Eats
Restaurant Widow
Columbus Foodie
CMH Gourmand
Itinerant Foodies
(jesus I read lots of food blargs)
Oh My Word
The Walker Evans Effect (although I see most of it here first)
Used to check out Downtownsnob
And
Ummmm...
As fer local stuff on paper, I read the weeklies, CMH, 614, C (does reading ads even count?)
vestanpance
Harrison West/at work OSU
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18-22ish might read some local stuff sometimes, but we've done polls and more than 80% of internet users in that age check facebook before even their own personal email. Facebook is still by far the "big fish" with people this age.
vestanpance
Harrison West/at work OSU
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osulew
My house...in the middle of my street
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Bear
The woods
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dubdave00 wrote >>
18 - 34 and 25 - 54 are common marketing demographics for mass media buying like television and radio. The internet is changing it but it's fairly common to still see those demos today.
Oh, I know, I hear "under 35" all the time... "under 34" was what sounded strange, I wondered if there was some reason for it. Sorry, in retrospect I guess I was being too literal-minded, should have stopped to think.
joev
Merion Village
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I think the phrases "widely read," and "local blogs," are mutually exclusive. People read local blogs to learn more about specific interests, and therefore, the audience for each is limited to those who care at all about the topic. For instance, I'm sure RestaurantWidow is read by lots of people who love cooking and food, but probably not a ton of people who are satisfied with a can of Chef Boyardee for dinner (and judging from the stock on the shelves at Kroger's - that's about half of Columbus.)
ETA: That comment isn't meant to disparage any local bloggers or undermine the ad value of them - reaching a finely targeted audience is much better than a mass market for most marketers.
lisathewaitress
SoHud
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Bear
The woods
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lisathewaitress wrote >>
Bear wrote >>
"Under 34"? What a funny cutoff. Is 18-33 a coherent demographic for some reason, or a common marketing grouping?
Anyway. I dunno, sorry.oh, the age boxes usually go 18-25, 26-34.
Right, my mistake, posting before coffee sinks in, bad bad bad
lisathewaitress
SoHud
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Walker wrote >>
lisathewaitress wrote >>
I'm just trying to gauge exactly how out of touch with the under 34 crowd the city of Columbus is. My guess is pretty out of touch.Who/what exactly are you referring to when you say "The city of Columbus"?
I suppose it would start with the Mayor's office? Like I said, this thought started with the Futurists post (I'm not saying they work directly for the Mayor). It is those sorts of groups - the ones who now and in the past 5 years have been trying to combat "brain drain." Remember when we hired that consultant? I'm just saying. I hear the same thing every year, but they continue to not be able to reach young people. THEY = pretty much any group trying to keep young people here and recruit them from other cities.
Talcott
Clintonville
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lisathewaitress wrote >>
I suppose it would start with the Mayor's office? Like I said, this thought started with the Futurists post (I'm not saying they work directly for the Mayor). It is those sorts of groups - the ones who now and in the past 5 years have been trying to combat "brain drain." Remember when we hired that consultant? I'm just saying. I hear the same thing every year, but they continue to not be able to reach young people. THEY = pretty much any group trying to keep young people here and recruit them from other cities.
I feel like the problem is that the "brain drain" thing isn't something that can really be directed by governments or businesses. People flock to Portland and Austin (to take the most common comparisons) because of the people who are already there (friends, famous people, or both). While I have no plans to leave Columbus, I have felt a draw to Portland because there are so many amazing cartoonists there. There are things the city of businesses can do to get the ball rolling, but I really think it's going to be individuals in niches who make this change.
With that in mind, I think that locally-produced blogs and content is going to be more effective than anything else. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't push for things like public transportation and other improvements, but if people hear about how awesome our 3C-light rail-street-car-on-the-moon is, it will be because someone they find interesting told them about it.
ChrisSunami
King-Lincoln District
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I get about 150 hits a day ( http://blog.kitoba.com ) --don't know how that ranks against others --but I doubt much of that is local. I used to have a fair amount of local content but nowadays if I have something I usually just post it here --I'm sure a much higher number of local people will see it that way.
Bear
The woods
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The analytics often distinguish among visitors, unique visitors, and returning visitors... I sort of wish they'd also have a separate category for "likely human visitors," based on behavior while on the site. Sometimes I look at site traffic for some of the pages I'm responsible for overseeing and think, "Seriously, China? I'd like to believe it, but I just don't."
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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lisathewaitress wrote >>
I suppose it would start with the Mayor's office? Like I said, this thought started with the Futurists post (I'm not saying they work directly for the Mayor). It is those sorts of groups - the ones who now and in the past 5 years have been trying to combat "brain drain." Remember when we hired that consultant? I'm just saying. I hear the same thing every year, but they continue to not be able to reach young people. THEY = pretty much any group trying to keep young people here and recruit them from other cities.
I agree that "brain drain" probably isn't as big of an issue as we were first led to believe, but I do think that David from Columbus Futurists makes some good points about how Columbus needs to create a more entrepreneurial environment. That means more people starting all types of businesses... creative, professional, whatever.
Or at least I think that's a better approach than just trying to come up with a new marketing campaign and trying to sell the city to YPs.
I guess I'm a bit confused as to what reading local blogs has to do with it.
JonMyers
HCMC ✈
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The city continues to fail to reach young people for a few reasons. One is stupid boilerplate advice that leads to wasted time and dead ends.
Rebecca Ryan, the consultant you speak of, has absolute contempt for the demographic she claims to have deep connection and insights on.
This is the same demographic she promised city leadership she would help them reach. This demographic doesn't want to be reached by that weirdo or the cliches she prescribes.
Yes, she understood that a certain mix of tools and proposals are required to reach young people today, but it's not about mindlessly pushing any cliched non-sense down the pipes.
It's about knowing your audience, and putting out cohesive, relevant proposals backed by leadership that pulls them in and inspires them to act.
Unfortunately, her con show continues to make the rounds with cities of our size and aspiration who think brain drain is a problem. I don't think it is a problem. In Eritrea, yes. Columbus, no.
Walker, I'm curious - what do you think would make Columbus a more entrepreneurial environment? There's a lot of entrepreneurial activity in Columbus. The biggest problem I see is - thinking too small.
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