MSNBC.com launches ‘First Person’
Cory Bergman February 27th, 2007
As promised last year, MSNBC.com has launched a citizen journalism section, and it’s called “First Person.” Users can upload video, photos and stories in response to suggested topics. MSNBC.com used First Person earlier this month with the NBC Nightly News series, “Trading Places: Caring for Your Parents,” and the site received over 6,000 stories, photos and videos. Current topics range from “unsung Americana” to silly dog photos. “This release is the first phase in an ongoing investment of surfacing user generated content onto MSNBC.com,” said Travis McElfresh, VP of technology for MSNBC.com. “Rather than creating just another free-for-all posting site, we have equipped the MSNBC.com editorial team with automated tools and filters so that they can easily and quickly identify offensive or non-relevant content before it is published. Automation and integration with relevance technology will further enhance the First Person experience and allow us to scale to some very interesting scenarios.” Of course, some of the best submissions may end up on NBC News and MSNBC.
One of the photo pages. Pics with the most votes are highlighted as user favorites.
9 Comments Add your own
1. Rex | February 27th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Rock. Any feedback? Note how we’re trying to mix user content with editorial voice. Couple examples:
msnbc.msn.com/id/17154718/
msnbc.msn.com/id/17270255/
2. Michelle M Brown | February 28th, 2007 at 1:09 am
Doesn’t the CITIZEN in citizen journalism imply grassroots participatry media by average citizens rather than a mega corporation and media conglomerate like Microsoft and NBC (owned by General Electric)? The world’s most successful citizen journalism effort is ohmynews in South Korea. First Person is less about General Electric and Microsoft wanting to support citizen journalism and more about jumping on the user-generated content bandwagon in order to sell those same users to advertisers.
3. Rex | February 28th, 2007 at 2:31 am
Hah! You totally got me there. Everyone who knows me knows how I’m a shill for MegaCorp Inc!
4. Jim Ray | February 28th, 2007 at 11:16 am
Hey, Rex, what are you planning on doing with all those MegaBucks we’re raking in from our MegaCorp parents since we launched this wildly lucrative UGC app? I’m thinking of taking the new Learjet for a spin, maybe skip over to Paris for the weekend. I just don’t know if I’ll have time to spend all this money we’re making letting users upload photos.
Just so I understand correctly, when we don’t offer ways for our readers to provide their own content, we’re ivory tower gatekeepers, but when we do build these tools, we’ve jumped some shark/bandwagon for the sole purpose of selling ads.
#include com.msnbc.FirstPerson
if(do){
you.damned();
} else if(don_t){
you.damned();
}
sigh…
5. Michelle M Brown | February 28th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
Rex and Jim,
web friends, First Person is NOT a bad thing. I just do not think it is citizen journalism. In fact, I don’t think it’s journalism at all and I doubt that you do either. And I know that you are NOT personally profitting from it. It’s a corporate-sponsored space to share content and that is indeed cool for users. It is also, undoubtably, intended to sell eyeballs, clicks, and stickiness to advertisers. No one’s panties need be wadded. I adore my blogs and bloggers and do not want to offend anyone. I just happened to see the First Person story on the same night we talked about citizen journalism in one of my classes and discussed what it means. I can understand your frustration with trying to add value to a site for users, and then have someone like me bitching about it. It’s actually the first time I have ever posted a comment on LR, and it may be the last (well, no, technically this one will be the last). I’m just too anti-big media that I can’t keep my mouth shut. It comes out all venom. BTW, I enjoy fimoculous too, but vow not to comment.
6. jay | February 28th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
I don’t see what the big deal is. It’s nice and flashy and all but all they’re basically doing is asking for reader photos, video, stories, etc, and lots of other sites have been doing that for years.
I guess it’s getting lots of attention because it’s msnbc catching up with the jones, but still.
Big whoop.
7. Ron | September 28th, 2007 at 6:01 am
myfreepaysite members
8. Bobi | November 21st, 2007 at 1:08 pm
trazmadol
9. Ron | November 21st, 2007 at 1:12 pm
trakadol
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