What is "tapinto"

TAPinto, formerly The Alternative Press, is a network of independently owned and operated local news websites based out of New Providence, New Jersey. The network covers more than sixty towns throughout New Jersey and New York.

TAPinto was founded by New Providence residents Michael and Lauryn Shapiro in October 2008 to provide independent local news via the Internet. Each TAPinto site is independently owned and operated by a franchisee, who pays an annual fee and a percentage of advertising revenue. In exchange, the network provides a content management system and helps with both the business and editorial sides of their operation. Some sites are operated by individuals, while others are operated by a group of two to four people who each work on the site part-time. Many of the site owners are journalists, such as magazine journalist Jackie Lieberman and former Star-Ledger reporter Fred J. Aun, who operates TAPinto Roxbury. Several are former editors for Patch Media, a now-defunct hyperlocal news network formerly operated by America Online.

In 2014, the network was rebranded as "TAPinto" and began using the new web address of TAPinto.net. In 2016, TAPinto was the primary source when it covered how a Yorktown man won a $76,000 jackpot on the TV game show Wheel of Fortune; TAPinto reported that the contestant learned about the show's theme in advance and studied prodigiously, enabling him to solve an entire puzzle while only knowing the first letter. It has sponsored political events such as the annual Meet the Mayors breakfast. TAPinto sponsored summittoday.org, a free community calendar for the city of Summit by providing a digital solution for content creation, as well as hosting the site free of charge.