Hyperlocal news aggregator EveryBlock is set to announce a new content partnership with government 2.0 mobile app and website SeeClickFix later today, according to an article by PaidContent.
Everyblock aggregates public records, blog posts and other content about very specific geographic locations, automatically. SeeClickFix acts on a similarly hyperlocal basis, giving its users the ability to report issues to their local government using their smartphone.
EveryBlock just went “Web 2.0” last January, by allowing its users to make contributions to what was previously a editor and algorithm created compilation of block by block news. For now, the addition of SeeClickFix will be a one-way street, only adding more news into the content stream. Unfortunately, it doesn’t currently allow users to do what we would really hope for in a partnership between these two companies – report issues to the local government in the most hyperlocal of newsy apps.
Update: As noted by EveryBlock CEO Adrian Holovaty in the comments below, the lack of updatability is due to SeeClickFix not having a writable API, a problem that is likely to be solved in the near future.
This sort of reporting is SeeClickFix’s bread and butter, but for now EveryBlock is set to remain firmly in the read-only realm. While you will now be notified when someone down the street uses SeeClickFix to get the road crew to come fix that pesky pothole, you’ll have to switch apps or dial trusty old 311 to get the same done. According to PaidContent, SeeClickFix has seen 14,000 issues, from potholes to clogged drains to crosswalk requests, over the past six weeks, which can be passed directly on to local government officials.
EveryBlock was purchased last August by MSNBC and is currently available in 16 cities.
EveryBlock competes in hyperlocal automated news publishing with Fwix, Outside.in and NozzlMedia. SeeClickFix competes in mobile municipal reporting with CitySourced.
