NewsTilt is at the initial press release stage... good luck, guys
newslabs.com
newslabs.com
Are you guys aware of True/Slant? They seem to be working with a similar model: 'True/Slant is the digital home for the 'Entrepreneurial Journalist.' Knowledgeable and credible contributors anchor and build their digital brands on True/Slant using tools that enable them to easily create content and craft stories filtered through human perspective (not an algorithm).'
At True/Slant, Contributors are absolutely central to what we are. I'm not sure if it's just nomenclature - and perhaps the differences between our "contribs" and NewsTilt's "clients" will be more apparent once you've launched. I can say, though, that we work our asses off for our contributors.
When we design, it's with Contribs in front-of-mind. When we build new tools and features, their interactions are foremost. We recruit each of them personally and provide advertising, distribution, SEO and other services on top of a dead-simple self-publishing platform.
As I said, (above and in another comment below), our offerings are going to be different from one another as we're different teams with different sets of goals and experience. I'm very interested in what NewsTilt is bringing to the game - we both seem interested in keeping journalism thriving.
Congrats on your launch, on your backing from YC and for your pre-launch piece on TechCrunch. All the best to you and your team.
I wrote an article recently about how social news sites are hurting brand recognition for smaller sites, so it's nice to see what amounts to a "social news site" that puts the brand of the content producer up front.[1]
Honestly, I would like to reduce the number of sources I go to for news, and I'd like to see news sites focused on news, not ads and massive animations and videos. Hopefully, you guys can deliver.
And, honestly, I also like that you are using Facebook Connect. I do think it's accurate that "Readers will write much higher quality comments if they use their real identity." Part of the reason I use my name where I can. I accept my comments, the good and the bad, openly.
[1]. http://www.jasonlotito.com/news/reddit-hn-digg-reducing-writ...
We'll be experimenting with revenue models a lot. Ad revenue is just the default.
> And, honestly, I also like that you are using Facebook Connect.
Glad people agree. I guess we'll see tomorrow how it goes.
Or, rather, it sounds like this idea could be recreated with all that and hiring a designer to make a nice theme.
The only difference is that they vet the writers beforehand, unlike Squidoo or Hubpages or Buzzle.
I'm genuinely curious, how is this different than any other online journalism endeavor?
Even if the only difference was that we vetted the journalists first, think of what that gives you. Seeing the newstilt logo on a journalist's page means you know they're good. It opens up the possibility of syndication to newspapers and other big content sites. It commands higher ad rates. It makes the frontpage a worthwhile place to go (would you go to the frontpage of blogger? probably not.)
Each little thing which seems like its practically the same as other sites, is in fact massively different. We use Facebook Connect, sounds minor right? Or it could be the difference between good and bad community (I'm betting on better comments due to using real names). Consider even the fact that I'm on HN. That means we know good community when we see it, and we recognize its value. See if you find that in any other online journalism endeavor.
And we're not gussi-ing anything up in wordpress. You don't take the core of your product off the shelf like that, at least, not as a technology company.
Our designer is working on the new site. It'll be pretty tomorrow.
When we were launching, many compared us to HuffPo, TechCrunch or one of a handful of other blog networks. It can be annoying, but it can also be a bit of - as Marcellus Wallace put it - "pride fucking with you." What you're building will be its own thing because it's a different vision and set of experience building it. True/Slant's been public for a year, and I don't think I've heard those comparisons in awhile.
> And we're not gussi-ing anything up in wordpress. > You don't take the core of your product off the shelf > like that, at least, not as a technology company.
But then, you will be reïmplementing major chunks of a CMS from the ground-up? Editorial and publishing workflows? Access controls? Tagging systems and info hierarchies?
I am admittedly biased here, as we made a very conscious decision to build trueslant.com atop Wordpress MU. I've built CMSes from the ground-up. I've created them from general-purpose tools and content management-specific frameworks. Building atop Mu has allowed us to spend significantly more time and energy on the overall experience and less on the nuts and bolts.
I'd like to think we've done more than some gussying up; the Automattic folks, among others, seem to agree
http://2009.newyork.wordcamp.org/program/saturday-sessions/#cms
http://www.slideshare.net/rogertheriault/technology-of-the-new-news-workflow
I look forward to your official launch.
EDIT: removed gripey, complainy questions.
With this, the 'brand' is interesting. First, the journalist makes money directly, which is nice. Secondly, the journalist suffers and succeeds based on the news reported.
Finally, commentary offered by a journalist is also valuable. I don't have time to be an expert in everything, but I can assume that a automobile journalist will be better informed then me, and can provide me with meaningful information.
Those are, of course, just my thoughts on the matter. =)
(Disclaimer: while I've met the guys who founded this and got a bit of early information on their operation, I don't have a non-publicly good answer to this question.)