AOL is stepping up its efforts to permeate the ultra-local and user-generated news spheres by launching an additional 500 websites under its Patch umbrella later this year.
In a bid to shake off its roots as a dial-up Internet service provider, the company has declared its intentions to spend more than $50 million (£32 million) on the mass launch, having already set up 100 of them so far this year.
Chief executive Tim Armstrong explained that it was all part of re-establishng the company's identity after what is now considered a disastrous 10-year marriage with Time Warner.
"We think local will be an important part of future," said Armstrong, who was an original investor in Patch before he joined AOL from Google Inc.
Other moves in the effort have included the shedding of properties, including social networking site, Bebo, streamlining its sales force and rebuilding its ad platform to capture more marketing revenue.
Jon Brod, an original Patch founder who has been tasked with masterminding AOL Local, said that the struggles faced by traditional media mean there is a vacuum of quality information at the community level.
"That is the need Patch is filling," he explained. He described the platform as an online-only community newspaper led by a professional journalist, overseeing a handful of freelancers who cover everything from neighbourhood crime-related events to gallery showings.
