EveryBlock

EveryBlock was a network of hyperlocal news websites that was originally founded in 2007 with a $1.1 million grant from the Knight Foundation as part of the Knight News Challenge.[1] The founders included Adrian Holovaty, a well-known programmer.[2]

History

The site launched in January 2008[3] in Chicago and was acquired by MSNBC in 2009.[2] NBC then acquired MSNBC in 2012 and shut down EveryBlock in 2013.[4] Comcast then relaunched EveryBlock in 2014.[5] In 2018, EveryBlock was acquired by social networking service Nextdoor and shut down, though Nextdoor kept the trademark.[6]

EveryBlock maps plotted a mix of commercial, government and nonprofit feeds that were geotagged by location. Users could experience a blend of Flickr photos, recent crime reports, 3-1-1 calls, permit filings, local news stories and home foreclosures that could be viewed as a map, list or RSS feed.[4][6]

The site eventually grew to provide local news for 19 cities, including San Francisco, Atlanta, New York City and Los Angeles.[4]

Legacy

While EveryBlock did not last as a standalone business, it was considered influential for its impact on the open data movement in local governments, and custom maps on top of Google Maps.

As a condition of the Knight grant, the EveryBlock source code was made open-source.[1] Holovaty has written that Kevin Systrom, the CEO of Instagram, had emailed him to say that he learned a lot about the Django web framework, also co-created by Holovaty, from reading the EveryBlock source code.[3]

References
  1. "MSNBC buys Knight News Challege project EveryBlock.com". Knight Foundation. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  2. Jeffries, Adrianne (2012-08-16). "EveryBlock's hype 'definitely faded,' says founder Adrian Holovaty, but it's more popular than ever". The Verge. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  3. "RIP EveryBlock | Holovaty.com". www.holovaty.com. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  4. Kelly, Heather (2013-02-07). "NBC News shuts down hyperlocal site EveryBlock | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  5. "EveryBlock: The Online Community for Your Neighborhood". 16 August 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  6. "Nirav Tolia-led Nextdoor Acquires Chicago's 'EveryBlock' Neighborhood News Site". IndiaWest. August 5, 2018. Archived from the original on September 15, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
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