At The Kelsey Group's Interactive Local Media 2006 conference today in Philadelphia, an interesting debate started during a presentation on AOL Local.

The central question: What is local? The session's moderator said everyone in the conference room -- and there were a lot of us -- would have a different definition of the word. And I'd argue that anyone reading this blog will have their own definition, too.

Local can't be universally defined by mileage -- that's obvious. To a person living in the suburban sprawl outside Los Angeles, a business 20 miles away could be "local." But to a resident of Brooklyn, a "local" business might be one that is within a 15-minute walk.

But if we knock out mileage, these questions remain: Is there a difference between local and hyper-local? Does the definition of local depend on factors other than mileage, like supply and demand? Does your personal definition of local change depending on your jobs to be done?

How do you define local? You can share by commenting here or e-mailing me at beth.lawton@naa.org.