NowPublic Launches New Website and Features: Sets New Standard for Citizen Journalism Credibility and Trust
World's Largest Participatory News Network Introduces New Member Ranking System, Presence Streams and Custom News Dashboards
"I get asked, on a daily basis, about the trust factor in user generated news. The new features NowPublic just released are our answers, and, frankly, I think it gets to the heart of the matter in a way that traditional media has never been able to - by being transparent and open." - Leonard Brody, CEO of NowPublic.com
VANCOUVER, British Columbia/PRNewswire/ -- NowPublic.com (http://www.nowpublic.com/),
the world's largest participatory news network, today announced the
launch of three new features that raise the bar for trust and
credibility in a crowd-powered media platform and community. These
features include a member ranking system, a presence stream and a news
dashboard.
NowPublic was founded to empower the average citizen to capture and
chronicle the news around him/her. It has distinguished itself in the
burgeoning crowd-powered media space as the category leader with
reporters in more than 5,500 cities and 160 countries.
With the new member ranking system (http://www.beta.nowpublic.com/ranking/list/top-contributor/new-members/daily)
, users can accumulate NowPublic points by assisting in the growth of
the global news community through a variety of variables based on the
behaviours and actions in the community. The points will be used to
calculate member rankings on a daily, weekly, monthly and all-time
basis. A member's ranking is determined by multiplying the
aforementioned variables with the value denoted here: http://www.nowpublic.com/newsroom/tips/member_guide/top_newshounds.
"Other participatory news networks lack a means of gauging an
article's relevance, resulting in extraneous news and hindering the
credibility of some of the best citizen reporters out there," said
Leonard Brody, CEO of NowPublic. "NowPublic has revamped its site and
remedied this problem, highlighting the news that matters most and
furthering the integrity of our users, whilst maintaining an
unconventional tone, conducive to the expectations of user-generated
news."
Allen Weiner, Managing VP of Gartner Research, recently remarked, in
response to the launch of YouTube's CitizenNews channel, "Take
Vancouver, B.C.-based NowPublic, a company that understands the power
of citizen media and its relationship to the news. It has built out a
portal, platform and set of very handy tools, which has resulted in
what most critics agree is the model for citizen media (http://blog.gartner.com/blog/media.php?itemid=3538)."
Additionally, NowPublic recognizes that many of its members are
plugged into sites like Flickr, YouTube, Twitter and others. In order
to create the most efficient and streamlined influx of news, NowPublic
is offering a presence stream, in which users' externally generated
media is fed to the site. Also, NowPublic users are now able to create
a customized news dashboard (http://blog.nowpublic.com/uploads/dashboard1.jpg), culling photo, video and/or text feeds from the places and people they want to hear from.
"What do you know? What do you think is important? What are you
doing tonight? What's happening locally?" said Michael Tippett, CMO of
NowPublic. "NowPublic's existence is premised on the concept that you
are more interesting than your television."
About NowPublic
NowPublic.com is a crowd-sourced, participatory news network that
mobilizes an army of reporters to cover the events that define our
world. In its short history, the company has become the largest news
organization of its kind with contributing reporters in more than 5,500
cities and 160 countries. The Guardian has named NowPublic.com one of
the top five most useful news sites on the Web and Time Magazine named
it one of the Top 50 Websites for 2007. The company has received
funding from Rho Ventures, Rho Canada, Brightspark, GrowthWorks and
members of the New York Angels.
Contact:
For NowPublic.com:
Chris Macowski
The Morris + King Company
212-561-7459
chris.macowski@morris-king.com
Source: NowPublic
CONTACT: Chris Macowski of The Morris + King Company for NowPublic.com,
+1-212-561-7459, chris.macowski@morris-king.com
Web site:
http://www.nowpublic.com/
http://blog.gartner.com/blog/media.php?itemid=3538