These days, anyone with a smartphone and a social media account has the tools to deliver a breaking news story, but often, these stories are picked up by established media outlets with no monetary reward for the creator. After realising this, former Melbourne-based IT firm Digital Motorworks managing director Mark Orval spent the past 18 months (and $250,000) developing an app rewarding people with cash if their stories, videos and photographs are used by the media.
Newzbid aims to compensate those amateur journalists and photographers who post content on social media platforms that is then picked up by media outlets.
With journalists and reporters unable to be everywhere all the time, the app is not aiming to replace conventional reporting but rather complement it. Subscribers upload content to the app, which can then be purchased by media companies. In short, Newzbid gives news outlets easy access to content that they may have otherwise missed.
The whole concept is built around media companies’ increased reliance on user-generated content (UGC) - 72 per cent of whom use social media content in their news reporting processes. The pitch to media companies is that it will be a real-time, cost-effective alternative to their conventional solutions of sending out freelancers who cost a fortune. In any case, where do you send them?” Orval explained to Mumbrella.
There is an ever-increasing number of smartphone users who are everywhere all of the time, capturing content that journalists and photographers just aren’t able to. We will provide people with the ability to divert newsworthy content from conventional social media to Newzbid. At that point we will approve or reject the content, put a price on it and push it out to global media.”
News outlets are alerted about newly uploaded content, and they can search the database themselves, purchasing content through a shopping cart system.
Image: The News Tribe
