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The worst thing about selling is just wondering how big we could have gotten had we stayed independent. It could be smaller, or it could be bigger. It’s tough to tell. When Newsvine launched, we were a pretty original offering in the marketplace: an environment where individual citizens could practice acts of journalism alongside mainstream entities like the Associated Press, the New York Times, and CNN, as well as discuss every angle of the news in an open, well-behaved environment. But several years later now, Twitter and Facebook have completely changed the ecosystem by filling the world with so much signal that finding a place to discuss the news is no longer a problem for people.
37signals interviews Newsvine's Mike Davidson
Seeded on Thu May 12, 2011 4:58 PM EDT
Article Source: 37signals.com- Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.
- Public Discussion (10)
Not only had the user base become much bigger, we were now associated with a mainstream media company; a development that some users appreciated and others felt uncomfortable with.
I don't think it was that MSNBC was a mainstream media company, but the explosion of traffic that ensued after the acquisition. Newsvine would no longer be the small community it was, and that upset some users.
- 7 votes
#2 - Thu May 12, 2011 8:27 PM EDTIt was probably a combination of both. A lot of people were upset about the MSM connection and left, but the MSNBC.COM integration during a highly contentious 2008 election made for some very rough growing pains.
- 4 votes
There were certainly a number of users who voiced concerns about the mainstreaming of Newsvine, but I think experience has almost shown the opposite to be true. There are now more threads than ever dealing with fringe viewpoints.
- 6 votes
I love Newsvine, it does make users smarter. It makes arguments stronger and helps solidify principals. I would welcome more users for that purpose and diversity. It seems MSNBC stopped advertising Newsvine since Comcast. I think MSNBC should put a more visible link to Newsvine. Newsvine is something to be proud of, compared to other news comment sites. Thnx!
- 6 votes
#3 - Thu May 12, 2011 10:34 PM EDTI left this comment on the seed.
Mike, nice to hear from you even if it has to be through the back door. What you say here explains a lot of what has or has not happened on Newsvine. I dearly love MSNBC but I have to tell you, they are twittering away a good thing when they ignore the thriving community beneath Newsvine. I tried to tell them way back when and I hope you have tried to tell them as well. Newsvine only needed to be more agressive in business building to succeed on its own. Newsvine or something like it has still got the potential to crack news and news organizations wide open. They just need to practice real journalism and quit this constant PR harping for Corporate. I keep telling you, no one wants to listen.
- 5 votes
#5 - Fri May 13, 2011 1:54 PM EDTI almost quoted the other section that dealt with the challenges Newsvine has had with constraints on developer resources owing to their work on MSNBCi projects rather than Newsvine proper projects. The new hires of the past year and the signs of life on new features seems to bode well that those constraints might be easing.
- 5 votes
I welcome the new members. I'm glad NewsVine has not changed a whole lot on the actual Newvine site.
I have to admit that I generally avoid the items coming straight from MSNBC though. It's got too many people on it just flaming stuff and not discussing anything. It (sadly) makes me realize that many fewer people actually want to listen to someone elses point of view.
The most delirious Liberal and self righteous Conservative actually deserve kudos for participating in the more in-depth discussions that the regular NewsVine serves up.
- 1 vote
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