The Waterbury Times| Oct 6, 2026

Waterbury has a voice. It also has eyes and ears. For the last 3 years it has had a place where what those eyes see and what those ears hear can be reported, documented and put in front of the world for all to see..

The third quarter numbers for The Waterbury Times make one thing clear: people are paying attention.

More than 2.5 million views were recorded on Facebook during the quarter. More than 305,000 people saw TWT content there. The publication generated 289,000 engagements, including 20,000 reactions, 9,600 comments and 3,000 shares.

And 65 percent of the overall Facebook audience came from people who do not follow The Waterbury Times.

That matters.

Because a community newspaper is not supposed to exist simply to speak to the people who already know where to find it. Its job is to go where the people are.

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For The Waterbury Times, that increasingly means meeting Waterbury in its neighborhoods, on its phones and in its feeds.

Seventy-five percent of the Facebook audience identified as being in Waterbury. Another 5 percent came from Naugatuck and 3 percent from Wolcott. Ninety-eight percent of the audience was in the United States.

The website tells the same story from another direction.

During the quarter, The Waterbury Times recorded approximately 44,000 page views from 35,000 visitors. Of those visitors, roughly 31,000 came through Facebook, while another 4,600 arrived through search engines.

The distribution may be digital.

The journalism is local.

That distinction matters.

A Facebook feed does not know the difference between a national story and a story happening three blocks from your house. The responsibility falls on the people producing the information to know the difference.

That’s where The Waterbury Times comes in.

The city does not need another institution telling it what Waterbury ought to be.

It needs people watching what is actually happening here.

It needs somebody paying attention when something changes.

Somebody asking the question.

Somebody showing up.

Somebody remembering what was said.

Somebody looking at the document.

Somebody listening when a resident says something isn’t right.

Somebody reporting when something is.

That is the role of local journalism.

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TikTok tells part of the story, too. The platform generated approximately 190,000 views during the quarter, with 1,000 comments and 920 shares. Eighty-two percent of that traffic came through TikTok’s For You page, meaning the content was reaching people beyond an established follower base.

The numbers are different from Facebook. The audience behaves differently. The platform is different.

But the underlying point is the same.

Waterbury is consuming information.

Waterbury is responding to information.

And Waterbury is talking back.

That last part may be the most important.

A comment is a response.

A share is a recommendation.

A question is an invitation to look closer.

A tip is a lead.

A phone call is a lead.

A person saying, “You should look into this,” is a lead.

This is how a city’s information network is built.

Not from a press release alone.

Not from City Hall alone.

Not from a police blotter alone.

Not from a politician’s Facebook page.

From the people who live here.

The Waterbury Times is one part of that network.

Not the voice of Waterbury.

A voice for Waterbury.

And increasingly, an extra set of eyes and ears.

That’s what these numbers demonstrate.

Not that The Waterbury Times has arrived.

Not that the work is finished.

Not that every story has been told.

Quite the opposite.

They demonstrate that when somebody is willing to pay attention, Waterbury is willing to pay attention too.

The city has a voice.

It has eyes.

It has ears.

And we’re here to listen.