TAPInto Founder Visits Centenary

Mike Shapiro, CEO and founder of TAPInto, tapped into the future of journalism when he joined the Introduction to Journalism class for a virtual presentation in the Littel building on Thursday, Sept. 5. 

TAPinto is a free online news site that provides daily local journalism to 99 towns across New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida with the tagline “neighborhood news online.”

“My advice to young journalists is that local news is now more important than ever,” said Shapiro. “We need the next generation of journalists to step up and get involved. I encourage you to do that.”

With 1800 towns across the country losing local papers, we’re experiencing what’s known as a “news desert.” According to Shapiro, some philanthropists have attempted to remedy the situation by funding certain publications, but their solution involves a “hamster wheel” of constant articles to generate profit, which does not leave much for quality, hard-hitting pieces. 

This business model does not account for “economic downturn.” This is where TAPInto comes in. 

Shapiro founded TAPinto in October 2008 after quitting his job as lawyer in New York City- for personal reasons- and making a major career shift into journalism.

Noticing minimal coverage of local news- with twice monthly articles- in his hometown of New Providence, NJ, Shapiro felt a duty to provide his town with something more. For the good of his community, according to Shapiro, local occurrences of car burglaries and high school football wins couldn’t be reported two weeks after the fact. 

Upon the website’s release, Shapiro did most of the reporting himself–despite no background in journalistic writing–and ran online news sites for three of his local towns. He was unable to take on much more, but was passionate about local news and said without it, “democracy dies.”

However, this business model was unsustainable because it didn't produce any revenue. So, he lived off of his savings. 

When his savings dwindled to only $50,000, his advertiser suggested he work solely on the sales end. Shapiro had no sales experience but was excellent at networking. 

This suggestion proved to be extremely beneficial for TAPinto’s future. Shapiro brought in freelance writers, who became his full-time staff soon after. 

Three years following the launch of the company, revenues began to go up and Shapiro started looking to expand. He surrounded himself with individuals who whole-heartedly believed in his mission and looked for people who were passionate and dedicated with a strong work ethic. 

Then, the company branched out into franchises. Shapiro had no clue about the way franchises worked, but tended to look for potential franchisees with a background in writing or journalism. 

Now, he looks for people with a business background that work with or can hire writers on their team. In this case, the franchisee can handle the technical and financial aspects, while the employees manage the creative end. Shapiro discovered this plan ultimately maximizes profits. 

All potential franchise owners are asked their vision is for their franchise and also if they plan to run for office. Shapiro’s goal for each franchise is for the articles to be objective and without a political agenda as “in the wrong hands, it can be misused,” said Shapiro. A committee of franchisees look over the applications and reject about 50 percent. However, the franchisees picked receive a contract and are well-trained. 

For anyone wondering about undergraduate opportunities, college students can start out as paid interns and be hired as freelancers after graduation. On average, according to Shapiro, freelancers make $30-100 a story; part-time employees can make $1,000-$1,500 per month; and full-time employees can expect a salary of about $40-60k per year. 

According to Shapiro, owning a TAPinto franchise is actually much cheaper than a fast food franchise. While franchises like Dunkin or McDonald's can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, with TAPInto, there’s a one time fee of $5,000, a monthly fee based on population- high pop locations pay $600 per month- and a yearly media insurance cost of $350. 

Each franchisee receives the best support possible from collaborations with the other franchises, which Shapiro attributes to their success, and Creative Director Adam Darsky’s dedication. Darsky checks in with the franchisees daily to provide assistance as needed. 

TAPinto also has full-time customer service, regular check-in meetings, monthly updates, and classes. The company is “only limited by [their] imagination,” said Shapiro. 

What makes TAPinto unique is their business model of 100% ad revenue, which is sustainable in the modern world. It’s also the only franchise news site ever created. Shapiro originally spent almost three-quarters of his time on advertising before his shift into sales, which is now taken care of by franchisees who work closely with their local businesses. 

“Being fully funded by advertisers is a great concept,” said student Ella Barnett. “Part of the reason the local paper in my hometown died was the fact that they started charging residents for it. So, seeing a local news source that is more accessible to residents is a fantastic concept.”

TAPinto also has the highest ad revenue of any news site in the country. On average, according to Shapiro, news sites have 2% of profits generated from ad revenue. The second highest company, which was unnamed in the interview, has an ad revenue of 9%. 

Subsequently, each local site provides readers with at least one new story a day and a daily newsletter. Franchisees can also communicate with their readers and allow local businesses to put links to their own websites in their ads. 

According to their website, TAPinto gets almost two million readers a month. 

This company also uses their own custom built technology to fix issues efficiently, be innovative, and not be hindered by other software platforms. The technology is redesigned every few years and now includes games and audio for the articles, which is an optional feature at the discretion of the franchise owner. 

TAPinto also ensures every piece is written by human writers. They never allow AI to write articles and only use AI for headlines, meta descriptions, social media excerpts, videos of news content, and recording a transcript of Board of Education or town council meetings from which the writer can obtain and verify information. 

Each franchise is created for individual towns. However, not every town has a TAPinto site. For us in Hackettstown, the closest town with news coverage on TAPinto is Newton. 

Over the years, local residents of towns across the country have reached out to Shapiro to get objective and factual journalism for their area. Even local mayors and governors have reached out to address the spread of misinformation on Facebook as social media “undermines legitimate local news,” said Shapiro. Facebook groups, according to Shapiro, have even spread misinformation about TAPInto’s company and its executives.  

“An interesting notion about misinformation is,” said student Leo Watson, “discussing how most see social media as news and not media. I like how TAPInto looks to not only spread real and unbiased information and does not look to choose for media and entertainment.”

“I also found it frustrating that people on Facebook try to ruin something so helpful”, said student Samantha Swayze. 

Now, Shapiro advertises the franchises on his website starttap.net, hosts monthly webinars, promotes on social media, has a LinkedIn page with 14k followers, and attends many conferences. He’s also been given an innovation award, which he says is the success of everyone involved in TAPinto. 

Also, according to the TAPInto website, “in 2024, Franchise Business Review named TAPinto.net as a Top Franchise, Top Low-Cost Franchise and a Top Franchise for Women.”

In the future, Shapiro would love to see TAPinto expand beyond the East Coast. He’s also been given international offers, which he’s temporarily rejected until such time as he can expand across the United States, which can only happen with a strategic business partner. 

He also says another reason for his continued success is marked by his articles not being “doom and gloom.” Those news sites are not some he considers innovative. 

As for the Centenary community, Professor Zatta met Shapiro two years ago, and since then, several of her students garnered internships and seen articles published on TAPinto.  

And, if you’re considering an internship or career with TAPinto, the best part of the job is the unpredictability, according to Shapiro. It’s exciting and doesn’t just get him out of bed in the morning; it makes him jump out of bed. 

“I could see Mike’s excitement with what he does,” said student Samantha Swayze, “and that truly is a beautiful thing; helping others while having fun doing it is amazing.”

So, my fellow Centenary readers, I urge you to get onto TAPinto and see the future of journalism. 

There is a desperate need for objective, ethical, devoted young journalists in today’s society and it starts with many of you. 

And, if you’d like to see our town’s daily local news on the TAPinto site, tell your friends, families, and local supporters to look into a Hackettstown franchise.