Friday, October 12, 2012

Storyful, Contently Explore Future of User-Generated Content

How do you take a never-ending babble of user-generated content and transform it into a useful news source? It's a question that social media news agency Storyful's Erica Berger sought to answer at a recent event called "How User-Generated Content Is Changing News" hosted at Contently's headquarters in New York City.

Regardless of whether you're a content producer, a media outlet, or just someone interested in the space where journalists and your average Jill interact, there's plenty to learn about the new face of news: curating user-generated content. Traditionally, the hard-hitting journalist has reported breaking details from the heart of the action - war, famine, fire, flood. Almost inevitably, he or she will turn to a bystander at some point to collect a real-time, personal insight into the situation. But what if your organization doesn't have someone on the scene? What if you're a startup with a unique value proposition that doesn't yet have the appropriate local resources, or what if budget cuts have forced you to limit the number of staff members in the field? The good news is, everything is going to be okay. Better than okay. Because companies like Storyful are perfecting the art of sourcing, verifying, curating, and distributing breaking, user-generated news.