I’ve lived in three states in 2007.

Clearly, I don’t have a subscription to a newspaper (unless you count The Economist as a newspaper and not a magazine), and I know most of my peers don’t either. Us not-too-far-out-of-college people are not settled yet, and it’s hard to justify subscribing to something or caring about something if you don’t think you’ll be in that area long.

This is why newspapers have to realize lightening fast that the Web is the only way to attract a certain segment of the population. Just because I’m not settled, doesn’t mean I don’t want to be informed, but it does mean I can’t form an attachment to one area or paper.

I read washingtonpost.com frequently (I’ve spent almost all of 2007 in the D.C. metro area). I’m not about, however, to subscribe to that publication or any other newspaper.

Will I still be in Alexandria, Va. a year from now? I’m not sure, but I’m fairly confident I’ll be in the D.C. area for awhile to come. This is why I’ll continue to read washingtonpost.com, politico.com and other Web sites in the area.

I’ll be honest, I’d love to see a loudounextra.com site for my county too. I’d go there frequently, especially since I don’t know the area well. What better way to start a connection with a community than through a site that will connect me with all the things I want to know.

I don’t know the good restaurants (or any really), where churches are, what there is to do around here or even what’s going on in the area. If I moved to another area in D.C. next year or 2009, I’d love a site like loudounextra.com for that area too.

You have to build products that make sense for your users. Newspapers increasingly make less sense as people switch jobs, careers and areas more often in a lifetime. They especially make little sense for segments of the population that haven’t settled.

I’m confident that a certain segment of the population will always enjoy a written product. It makes sense for people who are settled and have a strong connection to a community. If they are retired, and have more time to dedicate to reading through a product, they will have an even stronger connection.

But for most people, the Web will make the most sense. Trust me, it’s not that young people don’t want to be informed and part of a community. We just want to be informed in our own terms (pick and choose content) and part of the communities that make the most sense for us (social networks).