Facebook pushes traffic and helps build an online community.

We’re over that. Joining Facebook and learning lessons from it is in the distant past. It’s time to have that next conversation.

I’m interested in moving to the next step, creating more compelling Facebook pages that keep people coming back, attract more eyeballs, develop brands, help create communication and, of course, help push eyeballs.

I’ve been moving through some conversations, trying to pull out the best lessons. I’m not behind anything compelling yet, but I’d love to do something fun with NEast Philly’s incredibly active Facebook page.

Some worthy reading below:

• Data lessons on journalists using Facebook
• So you want a Facebook Fan Page for Your Nonprofit? Here’s the Scoop! –
• 8 Essential Apps for Your Brand’s Facebook Page –
• Is Your Target Audience On Twitter, Facebook, Or LinkedIn? — Because you should only focus energies where it makes sense. This has been a focus of a NEast Philly BarCamp presentation.
• 5 Easy Steps To A Great Facebook Fan Page — Biggest take aways: You have to vary the types of content and be willing to strike up debate yourself. That means effort, but it will grow awareness and use. That’s a big first step.
• How To Build A Customized Facebook Page For Your Business –
• Facebook pages wih static FBML application
• Wiki on FBML development Facebook static FBML problems and solutions
  
• How to customize Facebook fan page with Facebook static FBML application
• A Facebook Page is probably what you want, but compare them with Facebook groups and get more about that fight with Mashable here.
• Want an RSS feed of a Facebook group? There’s a Yahoo Pipes mock up for that.

I had no heat, two plastic chairs and a coffee table. I was chasing down the last of that year’s freelancing invoices to make about $16,000.

I was certainly still privileged for an endless list of reasons, but, to put it shortly, for a lot of reasons, 2009 was a miserable year for me. The three of us all had disappointing years. We all agreed that 2010 was going to better. Much, much better.

What I did do last year was reflect on 2009 and decided upon a theme: slow start.

I haven’t paid it much mind until now, but I think that’s a great task, summing up a year and trying to move in the direction of another for the following year. In that post, I suggested 2010 would have to be a year of ‘next steps.’

Basically, I need a thousand flowers to bloom so I could see which one I wanted to pick.

As expected, 2010 was a much, much better year. It was a year of tremendous growth for me, and, yes, next steps, as I’ll reflect upon below.

But now, with all of this growth, it is time to pick. Fitting the professional goals and the personal resolutions I’ve set, my theme or my overarching goal for 2011 is focus.

I’ll be dropping responsibilities, goals and projects. It’s time to make a business sustainable and focus on doing things well, not just trying anything I can get my hands on.

In 2010, I did some speaking, and I developed a lot of thoughts on editorial innovation. I brought in some revenue, set up businesses and learned plenty about taxes. What I didn’t do was much deep journalism or strong feature writing. At NEast Philly, my coverage of some civic meetings included some genuine accountability reporting and my work at Technically Philly included good community coverage, but I mostly forfeited that role.

The only clip worth noting, in my opinion and from my memory, was a long-form profile for NEast on a neighborhood town watch in Northeast Philadelphia — and something I wrote on behalf of a nonprofit for which I was working, as noted below. I did write some posts here in 2010 that I thought were compelling.

Indeed, I was focused on many other things.

The biggest news of my 2010:

• January: Moved into my first home.
• February: Announced taking a new job handling editorial strategy with Back on My Feet.
• March: Launched a somewhat satirical 67th ward brand.
• April: Helped organize the second national BarCamp NewsInnovation
• May: Had a feature profile of mine anthologized and published.
• June: Launched Story Shuffle, a themed, first-person story telling event and then hosted others.
• July: Grew the Back on My Feet blog, which I launched and detailed some growth.
• August: Helped plan and then hosted Switch Philly, a sponsored, paid, tech-startup demo event with close to 200 people in attendance.
• September: Received a J-Lab enterprise reporting grant.
• October: Attended the Online News Association conference and learned that while there had been much growth, there was need for projects to start collaborating and coming together.
• November: Left Back on My Feet to come on full-time with Technically Media. (I also applied for a Knight Arts Challenge grant.)
• December: Launched a Knight application for a local Crunchbase to increase accountability and unite indie news sites editorially first, a sensible next step to our TP directory and membership plans.

In 2011, I’ll focus with Technically Media and the futures of Technically Philly and NEast Philly, particularly when considering the announced William Penn Foundation investment and my thoughts on that investment.

Yes, I’m doing a resolutions post. If for no other reason than to hold myself accountable.

Looking at last year’s professional goals, which were much more about staying afloat financially, I think this year, the theme is laying the foundation of sustainability to grow a business and opportunities at journalism and the like.

I broke them out more specifically by month, as I did for last year’s personal resolutions:

1. JANUARY: Work full-time for myself — It will be a great personal accomplishment to be a full-time employee at a business I’ve grown. While I’m currently drawing a salary, its as an independent contractor, I want to finalize the transition in 2011.
2. FEBRUARY: Post here at least weekly — I continue to find great value in my development as a writer and understanding the tools of the web by flushing out my opinions here and disseminating them.
3. MARCH: Organize contacts — I have fallen behind in the proper organization of contacts and sources, which I want to solidify. This also means cleaning up my other Google apps, like a calendar that has fallen apart.
4. APRIL: Complete big journalism project — It looks like I will be playing a big role in a nicely focused investigative piece for NEast Philly, which will launch this month. That will be a satisfying goal to be involved with, ideally, another bigger, meaningful piece of journalism.
5. MAY: Host major regional event — We at Technically Philly will be soon announcing plans we’re gathering for a major week-long event in the spring that I want to help make a major success.
6. JUNE: Lead major grant project – Another major investigative and research reporting project will be winding down around this time of year, which will be a major professional focus of mine in 2011.
7. JULY: Regularly volunteer – I want to return to a focus of serving others, and see opportunity in my professional capacity.
8. AUGUST: Have physical office space — It goes beyond cache, as I’d like to mark the growth of TP with a location that our sources and readers can visit. This may be closer than expected.
9. SEPTEMBER: Monthly multimedia skill use — I’m only savvy with the most basic photography, videography and audio editing techniques, but I want to keep them sharp. Using the Story Shuffle platform, which can also help with my storytelling, and others, I want to monthly shoot video, take photos and edit audio. I want to look back on 2011 and know that I’m stronger in those places and others.
10. OCTOBER: Focus online presence — I have lingering outdated WordPress.com accounts that I want cleaned and projects that aren’t adequately shared online. I also have dead links and other problems in my portfolio and blog here. By the year’s end, I want to feel like all my professional work of merit is available online.
11. NOVEMBER: Business reorganization — Part of owning a business is organization. I am proud of how I have led this for TP on the fly, but I want to come out of 2011 feeling a filing cabinet, Google docs, any business recording tools and the like are also completely on point.
12. DECEMBER: Update my print portfolio — I have a binder of old clips from my college days sitting in my office. I want to get that spruced up and available.

I also shared my personal resolutions for this year here.

How could these be better, more actionable? Where are your resolutions? Think I have a shot with these?

I only recently come across someone doing a much better job of it, so I’ll leave it to her.

For the Reynolds Journalism Institute, Michele McLellan has dug in and created four main and seven overall categories for the always growing list of community sites.

It’s interesting to watch these numbers swell. Below, check out her categories and follow links to her lists.

1. NEW TRADITIONALS – These sites are dominated by original content produced by professional journalists. While the newsroom staff may be smaller than in a traditional newspaper newsroom, these sites tend to have more journalists on staff than community or micro local sites.  Many are embracing digital connectivity with their users, but traditional journalism is their bread and butter. Most of these sites are powered with grant funding and are searching for a viable revenue model, perhaps one that mixes grants, donations, sponsorships, syndication and advertising. Among others, the Knight Foundation is putting significant money to start organizations of this type.
2. COMMUNITY – These sites often rely on professional journalists but they tend to be bootstrappers who also focus on community building — actively seeking user feedback and content, writing in a conversational tone, and fostering civic engagement with practices such as voting, calls to action, and partnerships with local organizations and activists.
3. MICRO LOCAL – Sometimes called “hyper local,” these sites provide highly granular news of a defined neighborhood or town. They may have a tiny staff — one or two people plus interns or citizen contributors — usually supported by highly local advertising. [NEast Philly is included here]
4. NICHE – These sites focus tightly on specific topics — restaurants and entertainment, health and medical news, environmental or political coverage, consumer and shopping information. Revenue may come from advertising, subscriptions or syndicating content. [Technically Philly is included here]
5. MINI SITES – These sites typically are run by one or two people. They tend to be idiosyncratic in the selection of stories they cover and not highly aggressive in finding revenue.
6. LOCAL NEWS SYSTEMS – These are highly local, low cost sites created with a regional or national template, often by a corporation. In taking the temperature of the news ecosystem, it is important to note that corporations are interested in micro local news and the local advertising they may draw. What do they know that established news organizations don’t?
7. AGGREGATORS – These sites curate links and headlines from other sources. While curation provides a valuable service, our study is focused on sites that originate news.

I’m proud to say that I’ll have a small part in three of the fourteen inaugural reporting projects funded by the Philadelphia Enterprise Reporting Fund, as announced Tuesday.

Funded by the William Penn Foundation and administered by J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism, a center of American University’s School of Communication in Washington, D.C, the $5,000 micro-grant awardees were based on recommendations from an April 2010 report by J-Lab.

The fund has a focus on collaboration, so technology news site Technically Philly is partnering with development news site PlanPhilly and alt-weekly City Paper on one and just PlanPhilly on a second. NEast Philly is working with Temple University’s noted capstone course Philadelphia Neighborhoods on its proposal.

Read more about the three projects I’ll be a part of below and find the entire list of awardees here.

• The Abandoned City. The City of Philadelphia is the largest owner of abandoned properties in the city. The City Paper, working with PlanPhilly.com and TechnicallyPhilly.com, will compile the first publicly accessible master list and interactive database of these properties and examine how they came to be owned by taxpayers and why they are not being sold or redeveloped.
• Broadband2035. A look at the economic impact of broadband connectivity – or lack thereof – in three diverse city neighborhoods to help inform the development of Philadelphia’s 2035 strategic plan now in the works. By TechnicallyPhilly.com working with PlanPhilly.com.
• Neighborhood Development, Politics and their Relationship. An examination of the revitalization of a commercial corridor in Northeast Philadelphia’s Mayfair neighborhood and any ties to a local politician awaiting trial on corruption charges. By NEast Philly and Temple University’s PhiladelphiaNeighborhoods.com.

Funding and reporting should get under way later this year, all three of the projects are expected for roughly six months.

Phil Pappas, of West Frankford Town Watch, investigating an alarm near Comly and Bustleton on early Saturday morning July 10. Click to enlarge. It's my photo.

Earlier this month, I went on a ride-along with the West Frankford Town Watch in lower Northeast Philadelphia. For the love of hyperlocal journalism and community coverage, I put together a 2,500 word profile of the organization, with a handful of photos of mine. It was good to remember that I got into this whole scene for a love of writing. Give it a read and let me know what you think.

Mike Mawson smells something.

It’s past midnight on Comly Street near Bustleton in Mayfair. The sun went down hours ago, but forgot to take this sticky July heat with it. Mawson is riding shotgun in the sensible four-door sedan that his partner Phil Pappas drives. The West Frankford Town Watch patrol was circling around to head back south of Cheltenham Avenue to drive the streets of its namesake neighborhood when Mawson caught a whiff of something off in the still nighttime air.

“It smells like something is burning,” confirms soft-featured Pappas, 53, sitting upright with two hands on the steering wheel and dressed with purpose in matching earthtones. “I’ll pull over.” MORE

Read the rest of it here.

Two pieces I wrote for NEast Philly made their way into yesterday’s Metro Northeast Philadelphia edition.

First, as depicted above, a piece on Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams’s presentation at the Northwood Civic Association meeting during which he again outlined the four main objectives of his nascent administration.

Second, as depicted below, my coverage of the second meeting of Northeast Philadelphia Now, a fledgling attempt to coalesce various neighborhood groups to fight back against quality of life crimes plauging that part of the city.

In both cases, I was due a byline but something want awry in the production — which also resulted in the wrong NEast branding. But then, I suppose it’s still the beginning of the partnership between the hyperlocal news site and the city’s most circulated daily newspaper.

I certainly hope the paper is giving the niche site the respect it deserves, a fear others have recently had with other papers.

Check yesterday’s issue here, from pages 15-22. The issue runs every other Wednesday.

That niche vertical or hyperlocal news site that covers your community can be just as valuable as the big newspaper or local TV spot, I told an audience of nearly 20 as a panelist during an Entrepreneurship Week session hosted by the Empowerment Group last month.

The Kensington-based nonprofit who mission is “building a better Philadelphia by spurring economic growth,” hosted the week-long session of events — panels and lectures, workshops and happy hours — for small business owners and those interested in venturing down that path.

For the session on April 7, I joined a panel called ‘Build Your Own Buzz’ that was additionally manned by Alex Mulcahy, the founder of the popular, sustainability-focused GRID Magazine, Jim Sofran, an executive with Chicago-based Groupon and Deni Kasrel, a local marketing agent.

We each took five to 10 minutes to talk about our organization and rough advice for entrepreneurs who want to get attention for their venture. There on behalf of NEast Philly, I pitched the value of connecting with the growing topical and geographically-focused blogs and independent sites — because of their loyal followings, authenticity, cost efficiency and locality.

Those in the audience varied from web developers to budding restaurateurs and tour guides. For each, I said, there are niche sites that would have audiences interested in their work, and there’s no better way of connecting there than developing one’s own content, perhaps by way of social media to start.

See other photos from the week here.

The cover of a regional edition of the highest circulated daily newspaper in Philadelphia featured a news story of my own yesterday.

Rumors on the possible sale of an alleged drug-infested nuisance property veiled as a recovery home in a Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood that came out of last week’s Frankford Civic Association meeting was enough to warrant front page coverage of Metro. The property has been seen as something of a rallying call on the issue of illegal ‘recovery homes.’

I attended the meeting as a former resident and occasional contributor to NEast Philly, the Northeast hyperlocal, that started last month a content partnership with the Philadelphia edition of the international free daily newspaper franchise.

NEast Philly Editor Shannon McDonald says she entered the agreement, which features repackaged NEast content every other Wednesday, for the branding and larger distribution. Metro, which currently only pays McDonald for a feature Northeast freelance piece that usually leads the package, gets cheap content for a niche geographic readership for whom it can sell more direct advertising.

But it’s part of a growing direction for the scrappy free daily, which is likely more respected in Philadelphia than in its other U.S. markets of Boston and New York City but still takes heat for its short form, image and graphic driven product.

Since announcing the deal on April 29, Metro also has a partnership with noted cityblog Philebrity.com, which offers highlighted nightlife listings for the coming weekend, and has an agreement with election news blog pa2010 and the Philadelphia Business Journal.

It goes beyond Philadelphia.

As eMedia Vitals reported, like the Northeast for Philadelphia, the New York paper rolled out a Queens edition and uses Mashable content on Thursdays. The Canadian arm partnered with FourSquare.

The free daily is leveraging independent publishers who want to grow their reach and hit print readers to get free or low cost content and those communities and niches. It’s an angle that print isn’t dead — it just needs some cost cutting and realignment.

It seems like a brilliant strategy in my estimation.

In addition to sharing all the failures we’ve had at Technically Philly, I spoke with founder and editor Shannon McDonald about the progress we’ve had with Northeast Philadelphia hyperlocal NEast Philly, including most prominently the breakdown of where our content was coming from.

See here the notes from our 2009 BarCamp presentation on being an online news startup in a print-heavy community.

Below find the notes and slides from this year’s BarCamp presentation entitled: Twitter is stupid…and other foundations of our content strategy.

Our notes:

Twitter is stupid…and other foundations of our content strategy.

I. Community vs. Niche: there is a difference — We’re not here just to report news, we’re here for interaction and support in the community.

II. Leave the journalism to the journalists — It’s OK to run press releases, as long you’re transparent about doing so and let the readers do the feel-good stuff. People seem most interested in the content breakdown, which I first shared in a post here.

III. “What is this Twitter thing?” — Our Twitter followers consist mostly of other news orgs, politicians and teenage girls, so go to where your readers are, not where you think you should be.

IV. Make yourself (physically) present — You better be out at as many community events as possible

V. Where it’s gotten us and Where we hope to go — Content partnerships, branding, known in communities, hoping to grow advertising (education!), merchandise and hosting more events.

Find the presentation online here or see it below.