It’s hard to believe it has been three years since we launched Planet Princeton.

hurricaneireneppWe had a beta website and a Facebook page where we occasionally posted news items starting in early 2011. We were working on plans to officially launch in 2012, but then Hurricane Irene hit. We had just opened a Twitter account the week before the storm and had about 300 followers on Facebook. We reported non-stop for the week after the hurricane hit, staying with various friends who had power. A week after the hurricane, we had a half a million Facebook views and an additional 2,000+ fans. Our humble little news site has become more and more popular ever since then.

Planet Princeton has been an experiment grounded in a love for the Princeton area community, a commitment to journalistic principles, and a belief that community journalism matters. Community journalism not only informs and advocates for the public’s right to know — it has the power to connect people, shed light on issues, solve problems, and strengthen the fiber of the community.

These are challenging times for the news industry as journalists seek new models for the delivery of news content and ways to fund their work. But with the challenges also come new opportunities and better ways of doing things. We will continue to review how we do things and adapt to the ever-changing media landscape to meet our readers’ needs.

hurricaneirenep2A big thanks to readers for all your support. Thank you for helping spread the word about Planet Princeton, for sharing our stories on social media, and sending along your news tips.

In the coming weeks we will be launching a redesign of the website, a new calendar, and a daily email newsletter. We will also be conducting a survey to gather your feedback about the site and what we can do to serve you better. Our goal is to increase the number of stories and types of stories we post on the website.

We will be launching a crowdsourcing campaign to raise funds for various journalism projects. The campaign will launch a new membership program. Stay tuned for more information on the campaign next week.

If you have any suggestions for content, news tips (all tips are confidential), ideas for the layout of the website or services we can offer, or thoughts on how we can raise money to make our labor of love a full time endeavor, please send me an email at Krystal@PlanetPrinceton.com.

Thank you for your continued support. It has been a joy serving Princeton as a journalist over the last three years.

– Krystal

 

Avatar of Krystal Knapp

Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.

5 Comments

  1. Thanks for a great resource. Your Twitter feed was a lifeline during Irene and Sandy, and continues to be a useful guide to local events, traffic disruptions and a whole range of other local happenings. Your reporting has often been more detailed and timely than traditional media, with the added bonus of providing a platform for further dialogue/information exchange between your readers (and contributors).

    I’d love to chip in to support your continued and expanded reporting. Looking forward to seeing details of how you’d prefer to take donations.

  2. Best wishes to PP and Krystal on your success! We all appreciate what you do for our town!

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