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Neighborsgo is a weekly community newspaper published by The Dallas Morning News. Each Friday, 17 print editions are distributed in 39 communities in Dallas/Fort Worth along with The Dallas Morning News. The material in print editions comes primarily from user-submitted material on the Web site, neighborsgo.com[1], where editors interact with community members. Neighborsgo is one of several publications produced by major metropolitan newspapers that focus on citizen journalism and user-generated media.
Background
Neighborsgo is owned by the A.H. Belo Corp. Other Dallas-Fort Worth online, print, TV and radio media outlets often use neighborsgo material in their coverage of community news.
Print edition
In April 2005, The Dallas Morning News launched four editions of a weekly newspaper called "Neighbors." The response to the reader-generated newspaper was positive enough that, by the end of 2006, 12 more "Neighbors" were being published.
Now, the 17 print editions of neighborsgo are published by The Dallas Morning News every Friday and have a combined circulation of more than 250,000 copies. News subscribers in the communities receive neighborsgo with their Friday editions. Issues can also be picked up for free at local Starbucks locations.
Communities
Print editions currently include these D/FW communities:
Allen
DeSoto/Cedar Hill/Duncanville/Lancaster
Carrollton/Farmers Branch/Addison
Coppell/Valley Ranch
Frisco/Little Elm and The Colony
Garland/Wylie/Sachse
Irving
McKinney
Mesquite/Balch Springs/Sunnyvale
North Dallas
Park Cities
Plano/Murphy
Richardson
Rockwall/Rowlett
Lewisville/Flower Mound and Highland Village
West Plano
White Rock/M Streets/Lakewood
Web site
The publication hosts a Web site, neighborsgo.com [2], on which D/FW residents can post news, videos, photos and blogs about their communities. The stories in print editions of neighborsgo come primarily from submitted material on the Web site. The site was launched in April 2007.
Once citizens post their content on the site, neighborsgo editors either blog about the news or "reverse publish" the stories and photos into one of the weekly print editions.
The Web site for neighborsgo is unique in that it allows visitors to create an online profile like they would on Facebook or MySpace. Users can receive content specific to their community, communicate with each other, create or comment on blog posts, and upload content.
As of April 10, 2009, more than 15,500 area residents are members of neighborsgo.com[3]. More than 32,300 stories, 23,000 photos, 7,400 blog posts and 910 videos have been posted online, and the Web site has been clicked on more than 4.4 million times.
In April, 2009, neighborsgo embraced micro-blogging service Twitter as another way to create connections among neighbors. Their main Twitter account is @neighborsgo [4].
The neighborsgo Web site [5] hosts a daily Twitter feature at the top of the page that spotlights a local Twitter user.
Twitter accounts are available for residents to follow to get information about the following communities: Allen [6], Best Southwest [7], Carrollton/Farmers Branch/Addison [8], Coppell/Valley Ranch [9], Downtown/Uptown Dallas [10], Far North Dallas [11], Frisco [12], Garland [13], Irving [14], Lake Highlands [15], Lewisville /Flower Mound / Highland Village [16], McKinney [17], Mesquite/Balch Springs [18], North Dallas [19], Park Cities [20], Plano/West Plano [21], Richardson [22], Rockwall/Heath [23], Rowlett [24], Royce City [25], White Rock/M Streets/Lakewood [26], and Wylie/Murphy/Sachse [27].
Jason Castro
The Web site was frequently used for Jason Castro coverage in early 2008. Jason Castro was an American Idol contestant who hailed from one of neighborsgo's communities: Rockwall, Texas. The site [28] includes videos from before he was discovered all the way up until his homecoming parade after the season ended.
London Levi
The neighborsgo site also covered London Levi's experience on America's Next Top Model, Cycle 12[29]. Levi, a street preacher from Arlington, Texas, was one of the final seven women on the modeling competition reality show. Site contributors and neighborsgo editors followed Levi through the show, writing blog posts every week and commenting on the events of each episode[30].