Perth based startup Norg Media wants to bring community back to news with a service that’s hard to pigeon hole.
At a basic level Norg (short for news organization) is social media that encourages “citizen journalism.” Each Norg Media site focuses on a city and gives users the ability to submit news stories. Stories are then voted on by other readers, but not Digg style. The voting process does push stories up higher on the page, but given its focus on timely news the votes are weighed, and stories automatically move up and down dependent on this weighing process. Blog style users are able to comment on each story.
Submissions can come in a variety of formats. Users can add a short blurb and a link to another news site, or can write their own story. Video and photo submission is also encouraged.
I caught up with the Norg team today and pushed them for a model or easy way of describing what they do; I still haven’t got one. CEO Bronwen Clune told me that this isn’t a hyper-local play, despite the similarities with failed startups such as Backfence. Clune emphasized that this was a low cost, community powered model that will only expand into markets they believe there is demand. She also says that it’s not a competitor to main stream media sites, despite the news emphasis; she sees it more as a niche community news service that is selective with what it publishes, and does not employ writers to generate content, an obvious news site play.
Norg media has this week expanded from its Perth base and now offers Norg sites for Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, with plans to expand into the United States and the United Kingdom in the next 12 months.They are also looking at options for partnerships in non-English speaking countries, having already been approached for partnerships in countries including China. The two person operation is privately funded but is currently talking to investors for funding to bring on new staff so they can better facilitate their international expansion.
VERY COOL
no more paperboy
Coo! Web 2.0 really Growing faster world wide
At last some real news with, real comments and not this mass media tripe that is usually dished up buy the media moguls for the masses.
If your are interested in usability issues you can read at my blog an article about the NORG interface:
http://www.desi...g-system-works/
Sounds like a really cool idea. I’m a big fan of blogs and generally random-person-generated content/news.
This is going to give something to think about to all local newspapers publishers littering the streets of London.
I wonder though if a website can ever reach the credibility and reputation a paper like The Economist has.
Anything that increases Aussie news content is welcome IMO
What I like most, it feeds specific niche and expanding vertically.
Fantastic, I love the idea and I love that it’s Australian!
Great, just what the Aussies need. More inward looking news.
not “digg” style??? cause the votes are “weighted”? wtf, digg/reddit all these sites have a weighting system that gives more weight to new votes.
“a service that’s hard to pigeon hole.”
uh, isn’t that called local news?
http://fakestev...er.blogspot.com
Fake Steve Ballmer
what I meant is that it’s not easily comparable. Sure, it’s local news, but its the mash of various concepts that makes it unique
It similar to Digg,hmm, i don’t see the uniqueness of the idea,maybe i’m blind but i would rather stick to Digg.
Nat
http://www.workersinc.com
uh, this appears to be a drupal installation running a few of the configurable voting mods with a change to display in the template system. what exactly is it you’re pointing out as ‘unique’ or interesting again?
Damen – thought I’d mention how our voting works. All stories can be voted up or down by the community, but after 24 hours that voting is halved.
Norg users start off on the site as a cadet with 1 vote and can progress to a senior journalist with 3 votes. They get a more senior ranking as they post stories and comments that receive votes.
Fake Steve Balmer – don’t tell me that’s all I’ve had to tell people all this time!
Working on something very similar but we do the US and we cover ever square inch of the 50 states. Think Digg + Local in the left column and the ability to filter what national news you see (coming this week)
http://houndwire.com
Dave – Yeah, not so much – it’s not Drupal. The tech behind the site isn’t new – was is innovative is what is what it does.
I really like this idea because it can generate interest in topics the mainstream media may overlook or choose not to pursue. I started my blog to create this type of interest on a community level with a social networking twist. I would love to see funding from the social networking arena to be put into this effort to increase community awareness.
http://www.myciti.us
Interesting. I guess it’s a “citizen journalism Digg-like site with local emphasis.” It can be successful if it tries to address niche markets (Australian cities seems like a good target) — I wouldn’t even try and combine it with mainstream news. In terms of growth, I don’t really think it can be deployed in any location though — the niche community needs to be nurtured and cultivated, and its difficult to do that remotely. A Perth based company targetting Australian cities just makes sense. Good luck!
broken links, jacked up css in fire, nothing compelling…. looks like a real winner.
By the way, you’ve got so many ads and shizzle running it locks up my browser.
It seems like everyone no matter what industry they are in wants a web community nowadays. They probably would have been able to launch the site faster if they did it with Drupal.
Community is the main issue; the technology behind the site should be quite straight forward. It is necessary that user’s feel compelled to submit their stories. They must feel part of something that “connects” them together. Digg.com started with tech news stories because there was already a mature community around this topic in the web. But still the main question is:
- Why would a user submit a story to an unknown site?
- What is the site offering that can compel first users to submit a first, second, third…story?
As for the internationalization plans; I know that if you are talking to investors, you must mention that “internationalization” strategy or idea – it makes it more interesting for them to invest. But my suggestion is: don’t spend one dollar abroad before you are sure that it works in Australia.
Learn also the story of Craigslit list; it’s a truly local site with 100% users submitted content. And bear in mind that its took them some months to achieve any sound visibility. So be patient and work on the basics.
As for this site been mentioned here in TechCrunch; I wonder why you have made it here. But you are on the right direction on the “buzz” marketing aspects. It would be good to try to make it other leading blogs as the time goes by….
…enjoy the ride ….and good luck..
Not a bad idea, will take some marketing to make successful.
Once again, a “cit j” site most of whose content has been lifted from the mainstream media. What is the attraction in a site where unknown people randomly post stories I could find (earlier and in a more organized form) on NYTimes.com or Yahoo with their odd comments appended?
Henry – good point and it is something we are trying to change. Original content is our end goal, but there is value in people linking to and discussing stories that interest them and the community. In Australia at least, most mainstream media sites do not allow comments on all stories, so we allow that discussion to take place.
Overall, we have a number of original stories come through on a daily basis on our most-established site Perth.Norg.com.au
It’s early days for the other sites, but I think those changes will come.
The Norg service sounds promising, and Australia is a good test market. One recommend: to hook the younger audience (18-26), and get them interested in local news (and commenting about it), you should fold-in a modern “missed connection” service… something like JackSawJane.com would be perfect, because it’s private & interactive, like Norg. Here’s a quick Fox News clip about it in case you haven’t heard of it yet down under. Cheers.
http://www.myfo...mp;pageId=3.2.1
Nice to see some CJ efforts in Aussie. Good luck to Bronwen and co. Perhaps a NowPublic partnership is a possibility in the future.
Best,
Michael Tippett, NowPublic.com