This was a question we received from the audience during our community event, “What is Hyperlocal Journalism?” on Jan. 28 at the Austin Central Library.

Reporter Emma Freer came up with the idea to meet the community and explain how we do what we do. Many audience members asked pointed, informed questions like this one.

At Community Impact Newspaper, we pride ourselves on providing unbiased coverage of local news. While we understand that social media provides a chance to show readers a different side of ourselves, we are conscious of never posting something that would break readers’ trust.

Social media can also be valuable as a listening tool.  This month, we noticed a Nextdoor user complaining of a foul water smell. That led us to check in with Austin Water and ultimately report the source of the odor–dead zebra mussels in a raw water pipe.

Bottom line? We want to always be available and accountable to our readers, and social media is one of our tools to help us achieve that goal.