First, let me say this. I know the folks at NowPublic. I like them. They’re cool. And I’m always happy when a local company becomes successful.
But I’ve never quite been able to see the value in their coverage, at least from the end-user point of view. And coverage of yesterday’s Minnesota bridge collapse cemented that opinion. NowPublic uses breaking-news stories like the collapse as an example of how this kind of “crowd-sourcing” can really enhance and compliment mainstream media (MSM) coverage.
But even hours after news of the bridge collapse was all over the cable news networks, NowPublic’s story of the collapse had only two contributors to the story (one of whom is actually an employee of NowPublic).
Their “coverage” consisted of an excerpt from a MSM article, five screen captures from CNN, and two maps. This, again, was hours after the story broke.
Today, NowPublic’s coverage is not much deeper.
It still shows only an abstract, an excerpt from a newspaper article, and links to 184 random photos of the bridge and surrounding area.
Even Flickr has a number of tags already started around the bridge collecting hundreds of photos, such as 35wbridge, collapse, bridgecollapse, and more.
Meanwhile, the MSM was, I thought, much more effective. CNN’s iReport had an eyewitness on the phone and his photos on the air nearly right away after he uploaded the pics to CNN. More than 300 people have uploaded content to them. And CNN now has a collection of user-submitted bridge-collapse videos online. I couldn’t find a single video on NowPublic’s site.
Today is, coincidentally, the first anniversary of CNN’s iReport.
I still don’t understand what benefit people get by uploading to NowPublic vs to CNN or CBC or CTV or [insert MSM organization here]. When I asked NowPublic co-founder Michael Tippett about that last week (watch video here), I found his answer to be a bit lacking:
Tod: “So the idea is that someone sees something happen and you want them to upload it to NowPublic?”
Michael: “Right.”
Tod: “How then do you compete against the CNNs and the CBCs and the CTVs of the world who [tell their audience] ‘When a big news event happens, upload it to us.‘ ”
Michael: “In many cases we work with those news organizations [like the Associated Press] where we’re basically providing them with eyewitness reports…. There are cases where people will send to us because they feel like they have a greater chance of getting their side of the story told.”
Photo by Roland Tanglao
He’s right, but only on a technicality. While NowPublic would likely accept a lot more material that flows in, it does so only because its medium is infinite. But realistically, if you want your “story told” you want it to reach as many people as possible. And even regional news operations can provide more eyeballs than NowPublic.
That might change. Hell, NowPublic one day might indeed become, as Tippett says is his goal, to become “the biggest news organization in the world.”
But until their web site provides more value than an excerpt and some photos I can see in countless locations all over the web, those eyeballs will stay glued to mainstream media.
Disclosure: I do work for the CBC, a mainstream media organization.
Tod Maffin is a popular keynote speaker, national broadcaster, writer, influential blogger, and uber-nerd. [
