AOL Patch Continues Urban Takeover, Moves Into Somerville...

A few weeks ago we wrote about the ground war mounting between various media interests that are investing heaps of energy and money in the hyper-local market, and literally hiring hundreds of journalists in the process. In Massachusetts, the competition is especially percolating between AOL's Patch, Boston.com's Your Town, and CNC's Wicked Local sites.

Not much new here, except to note that Somerville's Patch is set to launch tomorrow (you can follow them on Twitter here). They're already up-and-running in West Roxbury, and, according to their map, AOL's super-duper-neighborhood-y push is soon to extend into urban pockets including Back Bay and Jamaica Plain. The Globe (which runs Your Town), of course, already covers Boston rather extensively.

As I noted in my Phoenix piece, this saturation in specific locales is not necessarily a good or bad thing, but it's certainly interesting to watch. In suburban towns around Greater Boston, one notable impact is that Town Hall bureaucrats are reportedly overrun with press inquiries, which, I suppose, is only negative if you're a lazy bureacrat.

Speaking for myself, I absolutely welcome competition creeping into city limits. When you all get comfortable, be sure to reach out to a brother for a drink.