My name is Brian Eldridge, I run a small community Facebook page, Puerto de la Cruz News and Views, and have been doing so for just over 2 years.

I live in Tenerife, I am a bit of a photographer and an energetic walker; my page was originally an outlet for photos of my treks and places I had visited. My audience is, in general terms, the local English speaking community, expats, frequent visitors and holidaymakers who have stumbled across the page.

Trying an online course

Someone who likes to keep me occupied suggested I should try distance learning and pointed out a site for online courses. I signed up for Community Journalism, not really knowing what to expect; my formal education ended with O-levels, my further education came, with compliments, from the university of life. I was pleasantly surprised. I had never heard the term hyperlocal, yet less than 2 weeks in, I realised this was what my site represented, or at least it had the bare bones of being one.

Making a change

As a direct result of the course my page underwent a change. Firstly, a name change, Brian’s Puerto Diary, as it was previously named, was far too personalised. Secondly, I created a logo, one which would become the site’s profile. Both were easy decisions and almost instant changes. The third – changes to the content – required a bit more thought. The idea had been festering away in the back of my mind for some time; the course helped me to decide to include some local news.

I am not a journalist and have had no formal training – I had chosen Facebook as a platform because it is very much image driven, as is its audience, I didn’t want to include reams of dialogue.  What news should I cover and what news would be of interest to my audience? My experience tells me expat communities can sometimes be self contained, almost insular in their attitudes and outlooks, so story choice will be key. Luckily in the local Spanish press I have an almost endless supply of source material to give me ideas.  Avoiding anything remotely connected to local politics, I have found there are plenty of public interest or visitor specific stories from which I can cherry pick 3 or 4 each day. Stories which once I have rid them of waffle, I can add my own particular satirical slant to. I don’t take life too seriously and my page will always reflect that.

Next steps

Now my page looks more like a hyperlocal, or my idea of one.  Photos are still the mainstay and will always be, I wouldn’t dream of posting anything on Facebook without an image to support it.  I have added news items, and a bit of culture (I get dragged around museums and art exhibitions). Sport seems to be a big no-no; I am not surprised given the average age of my audience. What’s on in the town can also be a bit of a hit or miss, but on the whole I am happy with the new look and, of course, only 3 weeks from the change , I am still in the experimental stage.

Has the change made a difference?  It is a small page, I have never chased an audience, have let people find the page, and having found it if they like it, they stay.

I hate statistics, but I will leave you with just one: after 2 years, and before the change, the page likes stood at 83, now they stand at 110 and the rest of the statistics are going in the same direction.