Greensboro News & Record on the Rise of the 101s

Entrepreneur Roch Smith Jr. takes on the 101 World
and organizes bloggers one city at a time

N&R coverage of Roch Smith Jr. and his growing 101 network. "Smith's product is the rough equivalent of an alternative newspaper -- that's published continuously instead of weekly."
(via Ed Cone)

EXCERPTS:
Greensboro101.com is a central Web page that uses sophisticated software to produce an up-to-the-minute listing of what's going on with Greensboro's blogs.

The site is open to anybody who wants to read it, but its special feature is that bloggers can link their blogs directly to the site. Then, as they update their sites with news or comments, Greensboro101.com automatically presents a rolling list of topics from all the blogs for that hour. All the readers do is click what they want to read.

The software does the work. "I've described it as democratic and agnostic," Smith said, meaning he doesn't cast his opinions into the mix.

Smith isn't the only person to operate such a site. But he plans to make it stand out with creative software and the involvement of local people. He has also appointed an advisory board of local people for the site and holds regular meetings.

For Smith, 42, it's all an effort to keep the Internet very local and very accessible.

Last week, Smith launched Charlotte101.us and Nashville101.com. If those sites catch on, Smith is ready to go to any city where there's a market. The key, said his friend, journalist Ed Cone, will be to find local people in those cities who can work for the sites to keep them uniquely local.

Smith's product is the rough equivalent of an alternative newspaper -- that's published continuously instead of weekly.