MyRye.com Mentioned at New York Press Association Spring Convention

This past Friday, March 26th, MyRye.com was mentioned in a speech delivered by Randall Rothenberg, the CEO of the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) at the New York Press Association (NYPA) spring convention. The NYPA is the trade association that represents more than 750 community newspapers in New York State.

We contacted Rothenberg for a copy of the speech (large file) and asked him about his discussion of MyRye.com and its relevance to a community newspaper audience. "I mentioned MyRye and your story of founding in voiceover, on the blogger/hyperlocal page, to illustrate a couple of points," Rothenberg told MyRye.com. He continued with his points:

"·  That most newspapers, because of production limitations and journalism conventions, cannot actually pursue the kinds of "campaigns" that make a difference at truly local levels, like getting a stoplight put into a dangerous intersection, but the Web can allow that;

· That local newspapers can either try to compete with this inevitable flourishing of hyperlocal activity, or alliance with it, and learn to extend their content through new economic relationships with bloggers; 

· That if they do such things, newspapers will recognize that they can leverage their strong existing local brands to become powerful platforms for and enablers of others, and generate new revenue streams in the process."

Our friend Chris Falcone of the Rye Soundshore Review was at the conference collecting yet another award (this one for a special section called "The Game" on the Rye – Harrison football rivalry) and dropped us a note saying Rothenberg "referenced myrye.com and its success as an independent blog".