For those wondering when we’ll get a community-edited site for general news… today might be it. Newsvine bills itself as a ‘collective… a place where anyone can read, write and influence the news.’ In practice, that means tagging like del.icio.us, editorial-by-voting like Digg, users’ columns like a blogging platform… and a steady supply of ‘professional’ content to keep it all ticking over. And as of today, it’s open to the public.
I was lucky enough to get in on the closed beta launch earlier in the year. I was excited by what I saw, but not entirely won over. Looking again though, I’m a little more impressed, and a little more convinced. Their UK homepage is still a bit too US-driven and AP-dominated for my liking, but it’s good to see the user participation starting to happen.
A brief look at the company blog, or the CEO’s own musings, and it’s clear these guys know what they’re trying to do. They could succeed… although I’m beginning to feel a US-hosted service won’t be able to crack the UK market.
So who’s going to bring this to the UK? I can only think of a handful of candidates, with access to the base content, and the open-mindedness to let users run their own show. I’m looking to Simon Waldman at the Guardian; or Lloyd Shepherd, now returning to Yahoo. You could make a case for Sky or MSN doing something, but I just don’t see it.
UPDATE: I think Mike Arrington is getting just a little carried away when he says it’s perfect.
Response
Hi, I saw your post via Techcrunch.
We will start Crisscross News UK a little later in the year. Unlike Newsvine the site will carry original UK news and commentary, and will be specifically targeted to the UK news market (not simply an extension of a US site). Drop me a line if you are interested in discussing the project further.