Getting the Most From Your Patch

Warren is a busy town, with many things happening every week. It's tough to keep up sometimes, but with some of the new features and tools we've launched on Warren Patch, you can stay connected to your friends and neighbors better than ever.

Here are five things you need to know to get the most out of your Patch:

You Need to Know About Our New Galleries: Got a photo of your pet you just have to share? Or maybe your daughter making the game winning basket in the recreation basketball game—whatever it is, we've made it easier for you to share your favorite photos on Patch. Starting this week, we'll have Patch Gallery, where you can post everything from the best sunset over Mt. Horeb Church to the Cub Scout pack meeting. Watch for the link on the home page to the Patch Gallery.

You Need To Know About Topic Pages: Having trouble finding everything on your favorite topic? We have meta-tags attached to stories to make them easier to find: trying to follow the teacher contract negotiations? Search on the site or on Google for "Warren Teacher Contract Negotiations" and every story we've published will come up. Try it if you're only following Watchung Hills Regional High School, one of the school's athletic teams or clubs, or the Township Committee. You'll never miss a news story again!

You Need To Know Twitter: During emergencies, such as the recent power outages after Hurricane Irene and the October snowstorm, many residents were able to stay up-to-date with our Twitter feed, @WarrenPatch. Download Twitter's app for your cell phone and you'll get all the updates and likes to articles posted. It's a great way to be sure you're staying connected.

You Need To Know Your Opinion Matters Most: Much of what we do at Patch is intended to bolster Warren's online community—we welcome your comments on every story, ask you for your opinion on hot topics, and encourage you to review local shops and businesses. Letters to the editor are always welcome, too. Join in the conversation with your neighbors on our Facebook page or send us a link to your page.

You Need To Know We Do Journalism Backwards: The model for journalism used to be based on a one-way flow of information—editors and staff writers provided all the content. And if they couldn't cover it, it didn't happen...But we've flipped that model inside out. At Patch, we welcome your articles about everything happening in town, from church breakfast on Sunday to Saturday night's fundraising dinner. You can always send us an article, photo or video about something you saw happening (like an accident on Mountain Boulevard), and we're adding a new link on the home page to make it easier for you to do it—keep an eye out for that in the coming days. If you've got something to submit, you can always click on the links at the bottom of the home page under "Contribute"—or email it to john.patten@patch.com.
And if you've got a favorite topic you'd like to write about, why not use our blog feature? Just click on "Want to Blog on Patch?" and we'll set you up. You can blog about your club activities and Scout projects, Little League team or neighborhood.