If you’re a news junkie and you’re on Twitter, there’s a good chance that you’re following @BreakingNewsOn, an account that often actually breaks news before any other media organization does, ranging from political news to natural disasters and other noteworthy events from across the globe.
As one of the 16400 followers of the account, I caught an announcement last week about the impending launch of BNO News, an extension of the news service to a separate website and a Pledgie entry where people can donate in order to contribute to the launch. I was intrigued and got in touch with founder Michael van Poppel, who set up the account back in May 2007 when he first found out about Twitter and the potential of releasing short news announcements quickly to people opting into it.
How Osama Bin Laden jumpstarted the service
In September 2007, van Poppel got hold of an unpublished videotape of Osama bin Laden, which he consequently sold to Reuters. It was then that he realized that he was sitting on something potentially valuable, and started thinking about organizing and structuring the whole process around the Twitter account. Over the past few months, BreakingNewsOn grew into a service that provides 24/7 news updates from around the world, often before any mainstream media reports on the same events, and providing more context with relevant text messages and links about the topic right after posting the actual breaking news.
Van Poppel says many news organizations claim to be leaders in breaking news but rarely live up to those claims because the information is often already “out there” for some time. He won’t go into detail about the specifics of his newsgathering operation, but says they use pretty much the same official sources as any news agency but with a much more efficient, unique processing system in combination with an extensive monitoring platform that digs up fresh news items almost as they happen. If you’re interested, read about how BreakingNewsOn beat a 911 call once in reporting a bus crash in the Bronx.
Moving away from Twitter
The reason BreakingNewsOn is moving away from Twitter in favor of a separate website with live updates from news events from across the globe, is as simple as it is obvious: the free service could never be monetized the way Twitter works right now. BNO News will have separate RSS feeds and e-mail alerts. It intends to also process user-submitted news items in true citizen journalism fashion and is thinking of adding some features especially designed to cater to professional journalists and raw news junkies.
The team has every intention of keeping the service free to users, and is keen on keeping the Twitter account pumping out news updates the way it is now, although I expect them to tone it down a little if the site gets any traction.
BNO is one of my favorite things on Twitter, but it seems to just echo the AP Breaking News feed. I guess it’s classified as a relay service moreso than a news breaker.
Still, it’s faster than AP’s own @APNewsAlert (seems to be official), which is powered simply by TwitterFeed.
They’ll refer to breaking news from AP, Reuters, CNN, etc. but if it doesn’t mention a source, BreakingNewsOn will be the first one to report. I’ve often noticed news items being mentionned where I wasn’t able to find any other references to the story anywhere else for several minutes, sometimes even half an hour.
You’ve got to be kidding me. @BreakingNewsOn is a plaigarism, pure and simple. All “they” (and I use the term loosely” do is rebroadcast breaking APNews alerts and CNN feeds.
Give me a break.
Its hard to rebroadcast news that hasn’t been reported yet. Moron.
Where does the data come from?
Do they have reporters?
No?
Then they’re just relaying other source’s data.
This would interest me more on a regional/local level. As it is now, it would just further clutter my Twitter feeds with stuff I may not be interested in.
I’m a freelance writer and news junkie, and I’ll give BNO credit…I subscribe to their Twitter feed and they often put alerts out about news stories that I can’t find any info on any of the major news sites about yet because those sites haven’t got the story up yet.
The wording of their twitters indicates they’ve done their own reporting…they’ll say “so-and-so sheriff’s dept. tells BNO that….” at the start of a report.
It’s a fascinating internet business model and also a very interesting evolution of the news business in the technology era.
i’m with you, it’s worth a shot
Good job! i will try it!!
come on guyz, they are pulling the news from cnn :S
———————–
LinkBuilding Service
Sometimes we post things from CNN but there have been many times we beat the major news sources!
You can’t be first at all times. Sometimes others have a scoop on something, it happens.
Currently, our Twitter service doesn’t offer more than the tweets and sometimes a link to http://www.bnonews.com with a press release or BNO News story.
But most of the time, we have much more information available. We just don’t offer it yet. That’s one of the reasons BNO News is coming.
If the news story is cool then it should be on TechCrunch. {seesmic_video:{”url_thumbnail”:{”value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/FEfT9HU8af_th1.jpg”}”title”:{”value”:”If the news story is cool then it should be on TechCrunch. ”}”videoUri”:{”value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/4PdYSWap86″}}}
The video is a reply to julie who said, “come on guyz, they are pulling the news from cnn :S” on January 8th, 2009 at 7:22 pm PST.
Daniel
I thought news was already free? especially on the Internet.
They need to grow their image more to look professional otherwise people wouldn’t trust it. They may break it sooner, but they still need creditability.
I don’t thing it’s a good idea to move right now. WHY, because they are getting more views in twitter appose to then moving to their own platform. if i was running that newscast i would run with twitter until the train starts to runs slow.
Great Disruptive Media . . . love it. Stories like quakes, fires, shootings, bombings . .. all the stuff that needs to be instantly reported is simply not in the current media mix.
{seesmic_video:{”url_thumbnail”:{”value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/nweICTrVTU_th1.jpg”}”title”:{”value”:” ”}”videoUri”:{”value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/d1NdMPtw6O”}}}
They break the news when it happens, confirm and unconfirm on time, tell CNN and AP that BreakingNewsOn beats them!!! GO BNO! – NYP
Get back to me when they have a million viewers. I’m sure they’re doing a good job, but 16,000 followers is simply too niche to be a disruptive force.
I have been following BNO since at least July 2008. They grabbed my attention because I am a self admitted news junkie.
I learned quickly that they broke Breaking News faster than anyone else.
Their tweets on attacks in Mumbai proved to be my BNO Kool-Aid. The urgency, reaction time and accuracy with their updates were superb.
Since then, I have gotten to know BNO extremely well and I have to say they are the real deal.
Here to provide you with Breaking News, as their name promises.
Being that this is an emerging news service, not to mention a new field of service (real-time information sharing), it is to be expected that it’s contributors/editors need rest and sleep. They are not a spin-off of any news media outlet. They are simply BNO.
At times things may appear as if there is just feeds. But I assure you, it is exactly the opposite of a feed.
If something URGENT was to happen, BNO would be all over it like white on rice…Unless of course they were like the rest of us and sometimes just need to rest.
BNO is an extremely small News org. that is News, web and globally savvy.
They are an emerging news service and deserve to be supported for their hard work and informational service they provide to the World.
Thank you BNO and Tech Crunch for both of your services.
-Alonis
Monetizing Twitter?
Twitter should sell licenses to use their platform to other revneu generating applications.
For news junkies, it is clear BNO is a very good source.
You can also visit my profile’s website, sometimes we break news before them
…and if you need external confirmation, please check this: http://search.t...op&lang=all
I love TwitScoop but it’s not a news source, only for rumors. Just like when one website was hacked and said that Steve Jobs had died, it then made it onto Twitscoop. BNO News would never report from never something like that, only when we feel a report is credible enough.
*fixed typo*
I love TwitScoop but it’s not a news source, only for rumors. Just like when one website was hacked and said that Steve Jobs had died, it then made it onto Twitscoop. BNO News would never report from something like that, only when we feel a report is credible enough.
Michael, I fully agree with you
Visitors have to make up their own mind since we’re fully automated.
But you have to admit we can be usefull for raw unconfirmed info, no ? We’re kind of a news source for journalists like you, who then do the fact checking I’d say….
That’s true, for raw unconfirmed information. Although it’s not completely reliable, witnesses also often exaggerate. But earlier, I have used Twitter search and when there came many results for “earthquake” I checked where they came from and then called the USGS media line to confirm it and get a magnitude before it was released.
I think that Bn do a great job and do get news out most of the time quicker than most.
Nice work dude… It is helpful for me as well as others..