Newsy Blog » Posts in 'multi-source' category
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Yahoo and Newsy – Gauging Audience Insights

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Posted in Linking, journalism, multi-source by Rosa Sow
August 4, 2010

Yahoo! News is changing the way they approach news production. Instead of aggregating sources the way it has been since it launched, it is adopting a Newsy-esque model of combining news with analysis. Editorial choices are made with an eye towards ‘audience insights’ – looking at the stories users are searching for, as well as how users respond to a story, which ones they open and ‘like,’ ‘tweet’ and ‘share.’

Like Newsy, Yahoo is using algorithm-driven search results as a variable in deciding what to cover, and how to cover it. In recent interviews with WebNewser and All Things D, Yahoo! VP of Media Jay Pitaro was asked about the role of search results in the editorial mix.

The question posed to Pitaro was one I’ve posed here. Will this new ‘democratic’ method ultimately lead to homogenized news coverage? Pitaro responds beautifully. For both Yahoo and Newsy, considering what stories people are searching for is only one variable in its editorial equation.

For Newsy, audience insight is important for determining what to cover and the use of different sources in our videos complicates the mix. It adds more traditionally editorial voices to the conversation. Furthermore, ‘linking out’ to the sources used situates the news consumer into the broader conversation on the topic.

The use of search has the effect of including the news consumer in the editorial process – what is ‘newsworthy ‘ is no longer decided by the fourth estate. Users tell us what they want, and we give it to them in easy to consume nuggets. Just the way they like it.

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Context Is the New Black

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Posted in multi-source, multiperspective, news consumption, onlinevideo by alexandra wharton
May 2, 2009

As news has become more abundant, its value has decreased. News consumers, especially Generation Y, increasingly get headlines from various sources online with little or no loyalty to any organization. This shift in behavior has challenged traditional media companies’ business models and left them scrambling to find a path to profitability.

In his excellent post, ‘The Future of News Is Scarcity,’ Nic Brisbourne discusses how a basic rule of economics - every abundance creates new scarcities - can be applied to the news business. The rule is good news for media companies, which are looking for new ways to make money in the 21st Century.

Why? The abundance of has created a new opportunity for providing thought-provoking analysis of multiple sources. Many of today’s most interesting and popular stories go beyond just simply reporting what has occurred – they bring in relevant context.

The New York Times experiments with this concept in its sections The Lede and The Opinionator – other successful news websites with this model include The Huffington Post for politics and TechCrunch for technology news.

Newsy.com is a trailblazer in offering consumers context with convenience - we’re the only online video news site analyzing various news sources and packaging them in one easily digestible package … because multiple sources help you decide the real story.