NEW PROVIDENCE, NJ — Seventeen years ago this week, TAPinto was born.

Starting with one site in New Providence, New Jersey, called The Alternative Press, TAPinto Founder and CEO Michael Shapiro started this journey in 2008.

Fast-forward to now, there are now nearly 100 franchised local news sites in four states with a total of nearly 1.5 million readers per month that count on TAPinto's original, local and exclusive coverage.

“As TAPinto turns 17, I want to thank our readers and marketing partners for their steadfast support, and our TAPinto franchisees for their hard work and dedication,” Shapiro said. “Our readers, marketing partners, and franchisees now enable us to provide original local news reporting in more than 150 communities and have given us the opportunity to become one of the only scalable, sustainable models for local news in the United States.”

This year has been busy for TAPinto and its network of local owner/publishers. TAPinto continues to roll out cutting-edge technology that benefits readers, marketing partners and community members.

TAPinto announced a partnership with Nextdoor, strengthening the reach of community journalism, by delivering TAPinto's stories to residents through the Nextdoor app.

Editor & Publisher Magazine recognized TAPinto as one of its “Media That Matters." The list, which only included 15 outlets, recognized “those who inspire with innovation in audience engagement, revenue, technology and journalism."

Franchise Business Review honored TAPinto with five awards in 2025: Top Franchises, Most Innovative Franchises, Top Franchises Culture, Top Low-Cost Franchises and Top Franchises for Women.

TAPinto built a legal notices platform to help municipalities, school boards and non-public entities publish their legal notices in a more user-friendly and effective manner while saving taxpayer dollars.  

In 2025, TAPinto also added two new features to the do-it-yourself portal that benefits business owners and realtors. Mom-and-pop businesses can connect with their local communities in an affordable and effective way through TAPinto's Deals and Offers. Realtors can now list their open house listings on TAPinto, in addition to arranging tours of the property.

TAPinto also built a new Op-Ed platform for advocacy groups and candidates to share their views and advocate for legislation, their candidacies, or other public issues.

TAPinto readers can now sign up on any site to receive push notifications, in addition to free e-news including daily and weekend newsletters.

"Our award-winning local journalism and our franchise model for local news shines a bright path forward for the future of local news and I can't wait to see what the future brings!" Shapiro said.

If you're interested in owning and operating a TAPinto local news and digital marketing platform in your area, click here. You can also attend an upcoming webinar to learn about what it takes to become a TAPinto owner/publisher. 

Click here to register for the Wednesday, October 8, 2025, webinar that begins at noon eastern time.

Click here to register for the Wednesday, November 5, 2025, webinar that begins at noon eastern time.