GazetteOnline recently launched Block Talk, a neighborhood and local news application that allows you to upload stories and photos to share with others.
What is Block Talk?
It's a tool to help you get published. You can upload news stories, photos or links of interesting things going on in your neighborhood, your family, work, school, Little League or whatever else you choose to share. It also can be used to submit weather or traffic reports that are important to others.
The tool comes with a built-in mapping system that allows you to pinpoint the location of your news item for others to see.
How do I use it?
To start, click on the green 'Get Published' button on the Gazette Online homeage, or "Add Your News, Photos" from the Block Talk homepage. You will be taken to a page asking you to share a story, link, event or photo. Note that the event link will take you to calendar.gazetteonline.com so your event is included in our calendar network.
Once you select the type of item to share, you will be asked to create a username and login or use your Facebook account to submit news items. We will only use this information to contact you in case the item should appear in the print edition of The Gazette or a broadcast at KCRG-TV9.
From there, enter the content into the appropriate fields, select a category for the news item and then use the map feature to pinpoint the location.
If you're a local blogger you can drive more traffic to your site by posting links on the Block Talk map when you blog about places around here.
See what's happening in your neighborhood
Click the neighborhood regions on the left menu to see find your neighborhood. Select a neighborhood to see news, links and photos and where the items are located in our community. Or click on the categories farther down the left menu to display items from a particular topic like Sports & Recreation. You can add your own news, photos or links by clicking "Add your news, photos, links" and filling out the simple form.
Help us make this better
We need your help to make this better. Tell us what you like or how we can make it better or easier for you by sending an email to GazetteOnline Editor Jason Kristufek at jason.kristufek@gazcomm.com.
Thank you for trying out the Block Talk tool.
