You can think of HattiesburgLife as the Pine Belt's own online network where residents of Hattiesburg and the surrounding communities can go to find local news, information on politics, discuss topics of interest, find sales and deals offered by our local businesses, and basically interact with each other on a personal and community level without all the jumbled up mess, random people, and non-geo
graphic information that is found on their Facebook and Twitter networks. What will you find on our home page? HattiesburgLife will feature a combination of many different types of local news — from public records like crime reports and city ordinances, to citizen discussions and local events, to photos and videos people have taken in your neighborhood. Generally, you'll find six types of things on the HattiesburgLife homepage:
• Resident messages — what your neighbors are talking about and stuff you want to hear about. This could be anything from news reports ("Here's what I heard about that new restaurant opening downtown") to questions ("Did anybody hear those sirens last night? What was going on?") to more in-depth discussions ("Who's our best candidate for alderman?"). We encourage you to participate! The more people posting and commenting, the more valuable the service is to your neighborhood.
• Civic information — city ordinances, property tax information, building permits, crime reports, restaurant inspections and more. In many cases, this information is already on the Web but is buried in hard-to-find government databases. In other cases, this information has never been posted online, and we’ve forged relationships with governments to make it available.
• Media mentions — any time something local happens and is in the news, we'll let you know about it. Every day, throughout the day, we will read through the Pine Belt's mainstream media outlets, community weeklies, neighborhood blogs, discussion boards and let you know what is going on.
• Local Journalists and Bloggers— find out what our major TV stations and newspapers do not report on. What is the latest info on the recent robberies? Where are the best places to get some good BBQ? If you know something that everyone else might want to know, you will have the chance to report on it! Do you have a passion for blogging? If you do, we will feature your blog on HattiesburgLife for all to read!
• Fun from across the Web — local photos posted to Flickr and our own photo sharing service, user reviews of local businesses from across the internet, postings from the Hattiesburg Craigslist and more. We figure out what you want to see online everyday and give it to you. If there is something you would like to see, just tell us!
• Coupons and Deals — everyone loves to save some money and get a good deal. We will feature every sale, coupon, or money-saving opportunity our local businesses offer. Who wouldn't want that? The central idea here is to have the residents of Hattiesburg and the surrounding areas contribute and communicate the news that happens in their lives. If you want to know something that goes on in Hattiesburg, this is the place to find it!
