TRB Tribune

Top 20 News Site Continues Rapid Growth & Local Market Penetration PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Topix (http://www.topix.com/), the largest news community on the Web, today announced that the number of daily, active(1) local forums on its site now exceeds the total number of daily newspapers(2) in the United States for the first time. Topix local forums were first launched in December 2005 as part of the Topix's broader user-generated forum functionality. Since that time, Topix local forums have grown at a rapid pace, reflecting Topix's ability to meet pent-up demand for local news and to successfully generate local engagement and online participation. Ranked a top 20 news site(3) since June 2007, Topix draws more than 12 million unique visitors every month and 70,000 forum posts per day. Topix local forums, which span all 32,500 U.S. zip codes, give local residents, especially those located in rural areas that are underserved by major media outlets, an opportunity to discuss and share the news that matters to them. Beyond daily local forum activity, Topix has generated user activity across 20,000 local forums with 16 million forum posts and 3 million users across the site. "Topix took a considerable risk in re-architecting its site and model, which now appears to be paying dividends in terms of user contributions and engagement," said Greg Sterling, founding principal, Sterling Market Intelligence. "And from an advertiser standpoint, the site has emerged as a potentially powerful channel to local audiences across the country." Topix also syndicates its forum capabilities for more than two dozen publishing partners - including The Indianapolis Star and Chicago Tribune - and is actively seeking additional media partners. "Topix gives users the ability to contribute local stories and commentary in thousands of towns across the United States, which in turn provides Topix with a unique and valuable asset," said Chris Tolles. CEO of Topix. "Topix gives people a platform to report, edit and discuss the news that matters to them. Our continued growth demonstrates the scale and success of what Topix has created to date." Topix users can also become citizen editors, helping to improve and better localize news content. These editors connect to a national network of engaged, local audiences with simple tools that combine the best reader contributions -- both news tips and forum discussions -- with Topix's locally categorized news from 50,000 traditional news and blog sources. About Topix Topix is the leading news community on the Web, connecting people to the information and discussions that matter to them in every U.S. town and city. A Top 20 online news destination (comScore, September 2007), the company links news from 50,000 sources to 360,000 lively user-generated forums. Topix also works with the nation's major media companies to grow and engage their online audiences through forums, classifieds, publishing platforms and RSS feeds. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., Topix LLC is a privately held company with investment from Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI) and Tribune Company (NYSE:TRB). For more, visit http://www.topix.com/. (1) "Active" defines user forums with at least one post per day (2) 1,437 Editor & Publisher (http://web.naa.org/thesource/14.asp ) (3) ComScore, -June, 2007 DATASOURCE: Topix CONTACT: Nate Hermes or George O'Brien of SutherlandGold Group, +1-415-934-9600, , for Topix Web site: http://www.topix.com/

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