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It is our great pleasure to announce today that Newsvine has been acquired by msnbc.com. There are so many exciting things to share about this partnership and what it means for you that it's hard to know where to start. In the spirit of good journalism, let's start with the five W's: Who, What, Where, When, and Why.
Who
Msnbc.com is a privately run news organization started by Microsoft and NBC in 1996. The site is one of the most decorated, highly trafficked news sites on the web, serving more than 29 million unique visitors per month. Contrary to popular belief, msnbc.com is run independently from both Microsoft and NBC and even the MSNBC news channel. It is its own organization, headquartered in Redmond, and has been growing and profitable for several years now. Msnbc.com employs about 200 people.
What
As desired by both companies from the outset, Newsvine will continue operating independently, just as it has been since launching in March of 2006. Msnbc.com is committed to maintaining and growing the community and features that have made Newsvine what it is today. In other words, Newsvine will be the same Newsvine you've always known, only stronger. Over the next few years, Newsvine technology and content will make its way onto msnbc.com, and vice-versa where it makes sense. Our users' columns and content will remain as they have been, as we work hard with msnbc.com to implement improvements and enhancements.
Where
Seattle! Of course! This entire process, from courtship to marriage, took the entire summer, and although there were several companies who came knocking along the way, we're thrilled that the right partner just happened to be in our backyard. Working together is a hundred times more efficient when you're a 15 minute drive -- and not a plane flight -- apart. It's a big win for us, a big win for msnbc.com, and a big win for the region as well.
When
We officially became part of the msnbc.com family on Friday, October 5th but we've been talking since May. Since Newsvine launched, about a year and a half ago, we've fielded a lot of phone calls and emails from organizations inquiring about working together, but never did it seem quite as right as it did with the msnbc.com team.
Why
Why would a young, efficient independent news startup become part of a large organization? For us, the answer is simple: it's all about growing the community and spreading the idea of participatory news as far and wide as possible. Although going from zero to over a million users a month in less than two years is heartening, msnbc.com operates on another scale entirely. While Newsvine may be well known in early adopter circles, we want every college student, every farmer, every weekend journalist, and every household to have their own branch on the 'Vine. In order to spread this idea further, we could have gone out and raised a lot of money, quadrupled our staff, and gone it alone, but when one of the finest news organizations in the world is headquartered right across Lake Washington, the potential of partnering with such a great team is dramatic. We feel strongly that we can learn from the successes of their experienced team, in a way that will empower Newsvine to become the worldwide mouthpiece of the citizen journalist.
So What Does It All Mean For You?
So many good things! Following is a list of things you can look forward to:
- Increased exposure for Newsvine writers. Remember when Killfile broke the news of the Virginia Tech shooting 22 minutes before the Associated Press? What about when Corey Spring got an exclusive interview with Dave Chappelle? When important moments like these occur on Newsvine, why shouldn't they also be put in front of 29 million people on msnbc.com? What about when a Newsviner builds up an audience for a weekly entertainment column like Steve Watts' Lost in the Vines? Why shouldn't great content like that be put on an even bigger stage? We think it should, and although Newsvine and msnbc.com will remain independent brands, we're going to spend the next several months figuring out ways to get the best content in front of the biggest audiences possible.
- A bigger, more diverse community. Msnbc.com's user base is spread across the world in every age, income, and demographic group. You'd be hard pressed to find a town in the United States which doesn't count some of its residents as readers. It is our hope that eventually, readers of both Newsvine and msnbc.com will be able to jump from site to site and share in the benefits that each destination offers.
- Speed, reliability and uptime. As a cost-conscious startup, Newsvine has made do with an efficient hardware footprint and no full- time operations staff. The upshot of this is keeping expenses down. The downside, however, is that during heavy spikes of activity and off-hour periods, the site can occasionally slow down or seem less reliable. Under this new partnership, Newsvine will move to the geographically redundant, world-class data centers that house msnbc.com. Bigger, faster machines and more of them. 24/7 monitoring. There may not be a news site in the world which scales better than msnbc.com, and we look forward to benefiting from their excellent infrastructure.
- A slightly bigger staff, able to evolve the site and provide features and support to the community without cutting any corners. Thus far, each Newsvine employee has had to wear a great variety of hats, and in some instances we have been strung very thin. The ability to add staff members in needed areas is crucial to our success as a business, as a web site and as a community. We look forward to providing excellent support and service to our users as our community grows dramatically during the forthcoming months and years. The team that set out to create the vision from day one will be freed up to continue developing the features and tools that make the magic of Newsvine possible. We will be armed with the resources and access to bring the best content produced by Newsviners to the world at large - bridging the gap between citizen and journalist.
- More news and images from more sources. Newsvine's mainstream news and images have always come directly from the Associated Press, and in fact, being the quickest wire-to-web news site in the world has always been something we've taken a lot of pride in. However, with the welcoming of msnbc.com into the fold, we now have the potential to bring you more of the best reporting in the world and some of the most stunning news imagery you'll ever see online.
...and so much more.
We're so excited about all that's in store for the both the msnbc.com and Newsvine community in the weeks, months, and years to come, and we hope you'll join us in helping spread the cause of participatory news to every household with a story to tell or a thought to share.
Open Q&A regarding the Future of Newsvine
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I'm going to hold back my cheers until this shapes up any further. Nevertheless, congrats.
Congratulations. I think this can only be a good thing. Newsvine has a great engine and interface, and I hope MSNBC.com only raises its profile.
Congrats on what would appear to be a great business decision. Hopefully...this will continue to be a great place to hang-out and contrib on occasion.
Having been in the corporate world for over 30 years, I can only say I hope you didn't sell your/our souls to the "bean-counting" devils. They really don't care much about personal experience as much as what the profit margin is and how slim an opex margin you can run with and still get by.
That's actually an outstanding point! One of the things that Newsvine has had going for it is an ever-improving experience. It truly is state-of-the-art. Perhaps some of the underlying motivation for the purchase is to bring that expertise to msnbc.com, but I doubt it. We tech people are very territorial and tend to hate the "new expert".
As an aside, I wonder if this is a result (even though it's 6 months in coming) of the growth of HuffPo as a multi-blog news/opinion site. Perhaps msnbc.com wants to try to get their slice of the pie before (they think) it's too late.
As a Noob who just got out of the Greenhouse, I am not so sure what this means as I am still figuring this out.
But anyway, Congrats and I look forward to interaction with out new newsie overlords.
Welcome Andy, do yourself a big favor and read spiffie's article about welcome new users and take the advice to check the Help Group and use the tools and support here to make the most of the experience.
Bah...
So if this is just a great thing that everyone should be so proud of, answer me this:
Will the pages that greet everyone now properly say "Newsvine, a wholly-owned subsidiary of msnbc.com"?
So.. You will get news from BBC? :P
I heard some anonymous rumors from anonymous sources that Newsvine is going to be renamed to MSNewsvine or MSVine after April 15, 2008. (Something to do with tax deadline.)
In case anyone's interested, msvine.com and msnewsvine.com are still available.
Does that mean you were the source?
Don't tell me I didn't tell ya.
Too bad - msvine.com has been taken.
Not me. I don't know who.
That's easy to find out
http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/results.jsp?domain=msvine.com
Looks like it could be a spammer.
I went to their web site and got loaded with cookies. Its one of those "sponsored web sites" that is all advertisements from A-Z. More spam.....
It is always so sad when some people reject change because of their feelings of insecurity, their fear of discomfort and lack of vision.
No one ever knows what change will bring. Only time reveals that, no matter what flowery promises there are in the beginning. The only thing for sure is that change is inevitable and the best way to deal with it is to welcome it with open arms, while helping to shape it in the direction required. Those who have been rather meanspirited with the praise for the NewsVine team must be pretty limited people in their vision because nothing stays static forever. The best way to make the most of life, and ensure an impact, is to go with life's flow. Which is precisely what the Newsvine's founders have done.
Great foresight, I'd say.
Change is difficult for all of us for the most part even though its happening all the time and we cant see it visibly at times. I think its part of a survival instinct to resist change...
Large corporations buying out smaller companies is not a sign of change but instead a sign of more-of-the-same.
the larger corp wanting to enter a niche market. That is my view of what's happened here. There is no reason for Newsvine to lose its soul and USP. MSNBC can only help us make our USP even sharper and stronger still. If we want. But if we are not bothered to keep our USP, we will lose it. The choice is ours (as in the community) to make, not MSNBC, Newsvine, Mike D, Calvin or anyone else.
After having invested their energy, enthusiasm and passion into this venture to get it going and help us build it to this point, if Mike D, Calvin et al were merely interested in cashing in, surely there were other offers they would have gone for. Newsvine has been a going concern for some time so it was bound to attract lucrative deal. Of course there are bound to be concerns that we will lose our independence. But I think we hold the key to that. MSNBC is hardly going to be interested in killing off Newsvine's USP. That is commercial suicide. Isn't it obvious?
Newsvine the corp has always had shareholders. Now we have a few more. But we the Viners are important stakeholders in the business. At least, that's the way I have always seen it here. There is nothing in this deal that changes that view. It's all good.
WTF? I leave for a few days and all this happens! WOWIE! :)
One article down, lauhal, only about 25 to go relating to this. ;-)
Erm. My watchlist said there were 49 "Newsvine" articles. Yikes.
Hi lauhal,
If you're looking for a quick grouping of the articles, check my column. I've been seeding these articles since last evening, and am now clipping all of the ones I didn't seed, as I find them.
Phew. Thanks Marilyn. I feel like a junkie...and you are my "source". :)
Yay! Thanks Marilyn!
No more vacation time for lauhal !
From the article on the buyout over on MSNBC itself. The only problem is that newsvine is definitely NOT unmoderated. One only need look at this very comment thread to see that.
And what about the little hacking incident that Mike Davidson was involved in whereby he hacked John McCain's website? I had never heard of this before, have any of you?
I think it was while you were away for a few months. Mike D posted an article about it and there were several seeds from other news sources.
Well, Dennis, some of us have this little thing called 'life' that sometimes rears it's ugly head and requires a hiatus from newsvine and other such things. Ever hear of it? The few months I was gone was due to the fact that I was driving a truck over the road and my laptop screen was busted beyond any ability to see through it. Now I'm home every day and have my laptop hooked up to my desktop monitor. As Jack Nicholson said in the Shining, "I'm back".
No articles about life? Was that a joke? Or are you saying that you can't find any articles written by me lately? I've written a few.
I think as more and more users flock to newsvine, possibly in the millions, moderation is going to have to go out the window, simply for logistical reasons. Calvin Tang is NOT going to have the time required to delete hundreds or even thousands of comments every day or week. It's just not possible. So will moderation go by the wayside? I think it would be a good thing myself. Most of the other social media sites such as Digg.com are unmoderated and they are flourishing just the same. If you want to call your venture social media and/or citizen journalism then let the users moderate, I don't think we need a Calvin Tang whose full time job is going to be deleting comments.
Welcome back Phaedrus. I think you need to revisit your rules of engagement:-)
Each Viner moderates their own column. Calvin or any other staff member is hardly responsible for that.
Not true. People can put anything on their column that they want and someone has to moderate it.
Calvin and the crew need to focus on the website itself, not bother with moderating it all as well - otherwise nothing will ever get done.
They can put in place all the fancy algorithms they like but nothing will ever stop it as good as man-power and human reasoning skills - said algorithms also use up a lot of the time they could be improving on the site or having time off too.
Maybe a group of users who've proven themselves trustworthy can be given this power, as on many other sites.
That's what I'm hoping for... but they ain't gonna do it for free - not on this scale.
While this may not be the complete end of the Newsvine world as we know it, there will be changes that, as of yet, haven't been anticipated (or at least discussed) by NV.
Watch for words like "synergies", "efficiencies" and "strategic enhancements"
While GE, NBC, MSNBC, Microsoft and msnbc.com may be their own entities legally, I think it's a bit disingenuous to say that they will remain independent from each other.
Go over and take a look at the msnbc.com website. Looking at the banner you see This:
MSNBC Featuring: Today Show - Nightly News - Dateline NBC - Meet The Press - MSNBC TV
Above that you see these links:
Make MSNBC Your Homepage | MSN Home | Hotmail | Sign Ingo to MSN.com
Now suppose you see Newsvine added to that banner or link. All the other entities are making nicey-nice now....
But just wait until Pamela writes a piece about the lack of hard reporting on MSNBC regarding GE's defense contracting role in producing battlefield nukes used in the coming war wih Iran.
Or look what the action will be when Epi seeds an Ann Coulter article calling Chris Matthews, Brian Williams, Bill Gates the worst slimballs in the world and that they should all be boycotted.
Read this article today Couric felt pressured by NBC to support war
OR...
They could consider Newsvine that crazy citizen journalism thingy that makes them look cool and hip and let us do what we do.
Both scenarios are possible, but I'm leaning towards something that looks like the first one.
Good point, Jimster. On the Calvin Tang thread, Laura had a similar question. to which I suggested her to try an experiment.
I hate to once again rain on everyone's little newsvine parade but... I just read the Dave Chappelle interview by Corey Spring. Reading this article was the first I had heard of it. I had been away from newsvine for a couple months after all. I was excited to hear something like this. I was thinking that this was just great, terrific even. But I was asking my self questions such as how does your typical newsviner get access to someone like Dave Chappelle? Maybe, I too, could land some great interviewees. But when I read the actual article by Corey Spring, I was much chagrined to learn that he was able to land the interview not because of his participation at Newsvine, oh no!! It was because of his position at the local college TV station. He says so himself if you don't believe me:
So while it is great to see an interview by a fellow newsviner of Dave Chappelle or any other famous person, let's not kid ourselves into thinking that it had anything to do with newsvine or that he would have landed the interview if it had not been for his position at the TV station. All this talk about citizen journalism, I believe, is way overblown and all these tongue in cheek (I hope it's tongue in cheek) questions asking when we will get press passes is just plain silly. We are not journalists by any stretch of the imagination. Sorry to rain on the parade. You may put away your umbrellas now.
Not true. Some Newsviners are also journalists and photo journalists with credentials, and quite a few Newsviners also regularly commit acts of journalism as citizen journalists. You've been away so long that perhaps you missed that several of our CJs have actually already gotten press passes from event organizers to cover events of national (Lalapalooza) and international (America's Cup - yacht race) significance... this, in addition to Killfile's coverage of the shooting at Virginia Tech, which scooped the national mainstream media.
I'd also like to point out that several smaller acts of journalism occur every day on Newsvine. Beyond that, Steve Watts was recently hired by 1-up, and I would guess that a large part of that is based on endeavors on Newsvine.
I myself have dabbled in covering disasters (chemical plant explosion in KC) and have even met with and interviewed a survivor of one of the (or maybe even the) biggest structural disasters in the United States on the anniversary of that event. I've also picked up the phone and called companies and reported on those conversations.
In short, we are citizen journalists, whenever we feel like putting on that suit -- but I don't think we are limited by that, nor should we be. I will say that all those who keep mocking this announcement based on Newsvine being a "citizen journalism" website miss the point in favor of negativism -- Newvsine isn't a citizen journalism website -- it's a social news website which features various examples of citizen journalism, but also a lot of other content.
I for one have never argued about the sanctity of citizen journalism vs. mainstream media, and certainly haven't ever made that argument based on Newsvine's status as a CJ website which, again, it isn't.
Ok, maybe I'm wrong, but Aine, I have been back for a little while, a couple months actually, but I've been getting back into newsvining slowly, I will say that I have missed a lot. But my point still stands though that Corey never would have gotten that interview with Dave Chapelle based on newsvine alone. Maybe he would have but the chances just don't seem to be very big.
Brian Ford, I thank you for answering me civilly. I know that you still probably don't like me that much, but you did and do make some points. I value your input. I think it is silly of us not to converse with each other simply because of our opposing views on Apple products. I've tried to reach out my hand to you on several occasions, the olive branch so to speak, and you refused. Come one, one more try? I looked at your column and your recent RAV and I have to say that you ARE very deserving. You are one of the most prolific newsviners here and have contributed tons to the site. That's enough of my eating crow for the day.
I would like to ask you though Brian, "How DO you do it?" I mean how do you find enough time in the day to be as prolific as you are? Not just prolific but very well written as well. I also like the photography, especially the one of the ball in the face? How did you get a shot like that?
I forgot to mention the Tour de France too. :)
Newsvine is not strictly a citizen journalism site, and it is that but it's so much more than that, too. The conversation/comment threads aspect of it is one thing that I think makes the site unique "ours". It's not all terrific, but neither is it all horrible either.
I remember this citizen journalist Newsvine article on the 2007 Tour de France
// end of shameless promotion
Would it help put your mind at ease if I told you I mostly got said interview by hanging around the theater for an hour after everyone left? I was invited because of my position, but the thing was open to the public.
In my opinion, the largest stumbling block to citizen journalism is technology. If you can afford a camera (still or video), a cell phone, and a laptop, (and really you don't need all of those, but they all help) you're only limited by how far you yourself want to take things. Most anything else is just making up an excuse because you don't want to work hard enough.
Corey, I wasn't disparaging you in any way, what you did was awesome. I just didn't think that it had anything to do with newsvine that you got the interview.
What I see is that Newsvine is a place to post such Citizen Journalism. It encourages it. Why would just anyone do it if they didn't have a place to publish and it be seen as much as it will here? And with corporate backing, there's the possibility of more eyes to see it.
I have my reservations as do others about this change, but I'm going to try to keep on doing what I was doing and let the chips fall where they may.
well a lot of user specific pages and archives are currently down ...... I hate Microsoft
---- kidding about the hate thing - but any news on getting these back uo?
I reported this bug on Friday as well.
With the upcoming new COH, this will be a violation punishable by suspension of commenting privileges 9-11 days. I guess you are lucky you squeezed by before the new COH comes into effect.
Somebody should try typing in something like, "Bill Gates' wife can blow me," then we'll see if it gets deleted, errr, "moderated".
(but not me, i don't want to get in trouble! plus i think i kind of like Bill Gates, that guy is ok, his wife seems pretty nice too, they give a lot to charity).
;-)
Mrs. Gates would like t' know yer addhress, LaeF1. As a matther of, er, charity, shall we say?
Does this mean new Zune 2's for everyone?!!
Calvin just sent me a new iPod 16 Gb iTouch :-)
Mehh, iPods are so last summer. Zune is the new "it".
Is was supposed to be a reply to mubrak :} (sorry for the double entry)
Suck up :)
I'd say Vista is waaaaaaaayyyyy more it-ish than anything else on the planet. [/microsoft]
0
!
Reply#135 - Mon Oct 8, 2007 4:45 PM PDT
Mubarak, then you have not tried to get your hands this on a iTouch since they close to impossible to find on the stores shelves and are very different then a basic iPod. But this is
getting away from the thread.
Why would I go to the store when I can go here?
Suck up :)
I'd say Vista is waaaaaaaayyyyy more it-ish than anything else on the planet. [/microsoft]
well done boys. congrats all the way around.
as for the rest of you: no one should be surprised by this.... heck, it was probably in the business plan prior to day one to be acquired.
the question is; the elephant in the room would be......... what were the TERMS ???
please see independent report on the acquistion here
newsvine was funded by 2nd avenue partners.... a firm that invests money in start-up technology companies with an eye for flipping the investment for profit.
the terms are most likely more convoluted than one would imagine. i imagine.
Congrats Newsvine!
Congratulations. Very well done.
Now none of these appear on the front page as 'top seeds'?
The newsvine tag doesn't show up on the front page. It's to prevent meta-overload, apparently somebody thought that would be a better idea than just creating a meta category.
"Actual news about Newsvine?!?" one source was quoted as saying. "Preposterous!"
As Mike Bloomberg always says, when we don't have names with comments it's probably for good reason.
Sure, but the cyborg can cheat and add a banner to the top of the front page with sweet, sweet linkage. The cyborg is sneaky like that.
Is it just me, or has the conversation tracker stopped working? I haven't had a hit in a couple hours...
The conversation tracker is like the great-granddaddy of Newsvine. Sometimes he gets a little forgetful, but he'll come around eventually, and we still love him.
Sometimes he burps and 17 comments from the last 3 months suddenly show up!
i just want to add my kudos to newsvine and the newsvine team for taking this step. Sure, it'll be a bit different but I think we'll survive and likely even improve.
Came across a golden nugget in the blog post from Rex of MSNBC (linked via Fimoculous in the main article here). Worth quoting ...
So true RkR, so true.
Yes, Raat Ki, IMO, the ensuing comments are interesting, insightful or just plain hilarious, and that is what makes Newsvine different.
the site feels like it's heading for a server crash. this kind of independence, we dont need. lets roll in some big new machines.