good for them! i was at the nytimes open event a few months back and everyblock/microlocal news reporting was definitely something on the radar amongst attendees and people at the times. glad to see an major news operator 'get it' and get behind something innovative and new.
This might just be me being cynical, but unless MSNBC really tries to innovate and make money selling Everyblock's aggregated data or something, they'll just end up slapping ads all over it.
And since, at least in its present form, it both requires lots of up-front work and manpower to start up each new local area (have to scrape brand new local gov't sites every time, etc.) and isn't a site that's going to pull in huge traffic numbers (meaning news that's more in-depth than celebrities and political FUD) -- if it ends up never making money, the core team will either leave after a couple of years of frustration or be absorbed into other projects, and Everyblock will fade away.
Again, probably just me being cynical, but I love the idea of data as news and was really hoping they'd be able to do something a little more independent than this.
Really? Is MSNBC still owned by Microsoft? When it comes to the Internet, Microsoft seems like one of those companies that really doesn't mind investing lots of money for a long time as long as they hold a glimmer of hope.
