Founded by Dan Plutchak, a journalist who grew up in Wisconsin’s Fox River Valley, the Plutchaknews Network is an experiment in hyper-local, social news.

In less than a generation, community news had gone from publishing on a huge, mechanically complex Linotype machine to even more complex mobile devices.

How people find and consume news has changed just as dramatically.

The first site in the Plutchaknews Network was KaukaunaCommunityNews, co-founded in January, 2016 by Plutchak and his sister, Carrie Forster.

Plutchak had been trying to keep up with news from his hometown, but the daily newspapers and television  covered only the main stories.

The imports, engaging local news that is the heartbeat of community was scattered across Facebook groups, blogs, newsletters and websites.

Plutchak and Forster decided to gather all of that local news content into one place and build a community around it. The response was dramatic, gaining 1,000 regular readers in a few weeks, then 2,000 and it continues to grow. Each week, the page is viewed more than 20,000 times.

The Plutchaknews Network now is growing to build news communities along the Fox River Valley and into Door County to see if other communities will embrace the kind of truly local news the social media mobile platforms can provide.

Let us know what you think. Message one of our pages or email suggestions, criticisms and news tips to Dan at dplutchak@pluchaknews.com