GateHouse Media New England Adds Social Networking to 159 Wicked Local Sites
04 Juni 2008 - 3:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
NEEDHAM, Mass., June 4 /PRNewswire/ -- GateHouse Media New England
has entered into an agreement with Waltham-based social media
company TownConnect to introduce family-based social networking and
a variety of other community-building tools on GateHouse's 159
Wicked Local town websites in Massachusetts. Through the co-branded
Wicked Local People sites, residents of the 159 eastern
Massachusetts communities served by GateHouse newspapers are now
able to participate in a free, secure, private network and easily
organize online communities of friends, neighbors and extended
families; coordinate schedules; share photos and files; and connect
families, friends, and neighbors. "When we launched the Wicked
Local network last fall, we wanted to combine professional
journalism, lots of community information, and lots of
opportunities for residents to interact with us and with each
other," said Kirk Davis, president of GateHouse Media New England.
"Working with TownConnect allows us to take that interaction to the
next level -- immediately." The Wicked Local network ("wicked"
being New England slang for "very") is a region-wide expansion of
the prize-winning WickedLocalPlymouth.com. Today, there are Wicked
Local sites from Provincetown to Gloucester, from Somerville to
Shrewsbury. While most are operated by a weekly newspaper, each of
GateHouse New England's eight daily newspapers operates at least
one Wicked Local site itself. The addition of Wicked Local People
allows visitors to the sites to: -- Build and share family
profiles, photo albums, and blogs. Links and calendars allow a
family to organize everything from soccer schedules to homework
assignments to social engagements - all in a secure, private
network. It is what might be described as a "Facebook for
families." -- Build an online space for a community group, place of
worship, or other interest group to organize online information and
communicate among members. -- Organize a sports team, complete with
rosters, schedules, carpools, and a list of who has "snack duty" at
which game. -- Share news and information broadly with all
registered members of the community or easily send information
directly to a GateHouse newspaper. In addition, special classroom
tools are designed for teachers to provide a secure online
environment to communicate with students and parents. "GateHouse
newspapers have been connecting people in their individual
communities for decades -- in some cases for more than a century,"
noted Mike Ford, founder and CEO of TownConnect. "The relationship
with TownConnect allows GateHouse to extend and deepen those
connections in many new ways, and it allows TownConnect to
immediately reach GateHouse's huge Massachusetts audience." In
addition to broadening services to readers, the collaboration with
TownConnect will allow GateHouse to offer advertisers
highly-targeted online opportunities and to significantly increase
its online advertising inventory. With current inventory sold out
on some of the most popular Wicked Local town sites, Wicked Local
People will provide additional advertisers access to those
audiences. TownConnect (http://www.townconnect.com/) is an
exclusive, private online service designed to help busy people
organize their and their families' lives. TownConnect.com was
launched in October of 2007, serving the United States and Canada.
As part of the GateHouse arrangement, the eastern Massachusetts
TownConnect sites now live exclusively on the GateHouse Wicked
Local sites. About GateHouse Media, Inc. GateHouse Media, Inc.,
headquartered in Fairport, New York, is one of the largest
publishers of locally based print and online media in the United
States as measured by its 98 daily publications. GateHouse Media
currently serves local audiences of more than 10 million per week
across 21 states through hundreds of community publications and
local websites. GateHouse Media is traded on the New York Stock
Exchange under the symbol "GHS." For more information regarding
GateHouse Media and to be added to our email distribution list,
please visit http://www.gatehousemedia.com/. Forward-Looking
Statements Certain items in this press release may constitute
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and are subject to
various risks and uncertainties, including without limitation,
statements relating to progress made by the Company in its
integration efforts, growth in revenues and cash flow, on-line
revenues and potential acquisition opportunities. Forward-looking
statements are generally identifiable by use of forward-looking
terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "potential," "intend,"
"expect," "endeavor," "seek," "anticipate," "estimate,"
"overestimate," "underestimate," "believe," "could," "would,"
"project," "predict," "continue" or other similar words or
expressions. Forward looking statements are based on certain
assumptions or estimates, discuss future expectations, describe
future plans and strategies, contain projections of results of
operations or of financial condition or state other forward-looking
information. The Company's ability to predict results or the actual
effect of future plans or strategies is inherently uncertain.
Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in
such forward looking statements are based on reasonable
assumptions, actual results and performance could differ materially
from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Factors
which could have a material adverse effect on the Company's
operations and future prospects or which could cause events or
circumstances to differ from the forward-looking statements
include, but are not limited to, the Company's ability to close on
a timely basis upon announced or contemplated transactions,
unexpected liabilities arising from any transaction or that the
Company will not receive the expected benefits from the
transaction, the Company's limited operating history on a combined
basis, the Company's ability to generate sufficient cash flow to
cover required interest, long-term obligations and dividends, the
effect of the Company's indebtedness and long-term obligations on
its liquidity, the Company's ability to effectively manage its
growth, unforeseen costs associated with the acquisition of new
properties, the Company's ability to find suitably priced
acquisitions, the Company's ability to integrate acquired assets
and businesses, any increases in the price or reduction in the
availability of newsprint, seasonal and other fluctuations
affecting the Company's revenues and operating results, any
declines in circulation, the Company's ability to obtain additional
capital on terms acceptable to it, the Company's vulnerability to
economic downturns, regulatory changes or acts of nature in certain
geographic areas, increases in competition for skilled personnel,
departure of key officers, increases in market interest rates, the
cost and difficulty of complying with increasing and evolving
regulation, and other risks detailed from time to time in the
Company's SEC reports, including but not limited to its most recent
Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC under Commission File
Number 001-33091. When considering forward- looking statements,
readers should keep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary
statements in such SEC filings. Readers are also cautioned not to
place undue reliance on any of these forward-looking statements,
which reflect management's views as of the date of this press
release. The factors discussed above and the other factors noted in
the Company's SEC filings could cause actual results to differ
significantly from those contained in any forward-looking
statement. Although the Company believes that the expectations
reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, it
cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or
achievements and expressly disclaims any obligation to release
publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements
to reflect any change in expectations with regard thereto or change
in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is
based. DATASOURCE: GateHouse Media New England CONTACT: Anne
Eisenmenger of GateHouse Media New England, +1-617-835-6257 Web
site: http://www.gatehousemedia.com/ http://www.townconnect.com/
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