MSNBC Acquires Newsvine
Oct 8th, 2007 by dabloguiman
The citizen journalism startup Newsvine has been acquired by MSNBC for an undisclosed sum.
According to Newsvine CEO Mike Davidson the citizen journalism site will continue operating independently, just as it has been since launching in March of 2006.
Newsvine gets about 1.2 million unique visitors, 80,000 comments and 250,000 votes per month.
In explaining why Newsvine sold to MSNBC Davidson said:
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.
