Coming Soon - FreePint Topic Series: Beyond Aggregation
Jinfo Blog

By Andrew Grave

Abstract

FreePint's exploration of topics of interest to information professionals continues with the FreePint Topic Series: Beyond Aggregation which looks at news sources and news aggregators. Andrew Grave, the series producer, introduces the main themes ranging from harnessing news from social media sources to the growth of newspaper paywalls and the phasing out of Factiva.com.

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External news plays an important role across an organisation. It is an essential ingredient in many functions including PR, customer relationship management, due diligence, compliance, and competitive intelligence.

It is this widespread use of news that makes understanding the rapidly-changing marketplace essential. The market is characterised by the rapid growth of social media, existing providers’ heavy development programmes and the arrival of new solutions coming from non-traditional providers.

The propensity for further significant change should not be underestimated. Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos’s acquisition of The Washington Post has led to speculation that he may turn it into the Amazon of news content. If he does, FreePint will be taking a very keen interest!

Social Media

No analysis of news aggregation can be complete without an examination of social media content. Few can doubt its transformative effect upon news provision with both information professionals and others routinely turning to Twitter for breaking news, and authoritative blogs for analysis.

In a world where news may come from a wide variety of official and semi-official tweets, how can reliable content be surfaced and searched via news aggregators? Our reviews of the newer and long-established aggregators will help you to understand which do the job best.

Newspaper Paywalls

For a long time, access to digital content was the exclusive preserve of aggregators like Factiva. Access was often carefully controlled by organisations for reasons of cost.

The late 1990s saw an explosion in the growth of online publishing with many newspapers offering most or all of their content at no cost. Set against the background of the global financial crisis, many information managers substantially downsized their investment in news aggregation over the last few years. The business case for news aggregation services was severely tested when identical content was available free online.

The introduction of newspaper paywalls from newspapers like The Times in the UK and New York Times in the US, together with an article limit in others, provides another opportunity for information professionals to establish themselves at the heart of news provision.

The potential increase in costs is a budgetary threat which information professionals can mitigate by exploring alternative news aggregation solutions, which this series will be extensively reviewing.

Factiva.com

In May this year, we learnt that Dow Jones’s long-standing news aggregation product Factiva.com was going to be subsumed into a new offering. This is now known now as DJX (standing for Dow Jones Extra) and has the strapline: it’s that simple.

DJX intends to wrap Factiva.com content into a single portal alongside The Wall Street Journal, Barrons and other Dow Jones offerings. Readers can view a short DJX YouTube video here.

FreePint's Tim Buckley Owen reported on the changes at the time. He detailed the company’s new strategy, which included a desire to get closer to the institutional marketplace; to establish a networking site in competition with LinkedIn; and to raise prices.

If the potential price rises were insufficient to get information professionals actively contemplating other options, reports soon reached FreePint that Dow Jones was no longer renewing its existing Factiva.com contracts. Customers were left with the choice of migrating to DJX or seeking alternative solutions.

(You can share your own perspectives and experience by taking part in the FreePint Survey: News Needs and Preferences 2013; read about the project here, and participate now.)

Mapping the Changing Marketplace

The changes at Dow Jones have stirred up interest in the news marketplace, as many current Factiva customers start to seriously consider their options. Today’s marketplace will look vastly different to the one when those contracts were first taken out.

Our forthcoming market map seeks to bring readers up to speed very quickly on the current marketplace. We hope it will suggest solutions that may not immediately come to mind.

It covers the entire marketplace spanning traditional news aggregators with a background in content, news aggregators from a software background, and services from press cuttings agencies. And it also encompasses the rapidly evolving software-only solutions as well as social media tools.

Topics to be Tackled

The series will include articles on areas such as:

• Market map, described in more detail above
  
  
• DIY solutions. Providers like Attensa and Linex Systems have made a name for themselves as providers of news aggregation software. But what about the newer breed of social media tools like Flipboard? Can these be deployed successfully in a corporate environment?
  
  
• Mobile news provision. Who’s doing it well? Who’s doing it less well?
  
  
• Trends in Content. What have been the biggest trends in content provision from the key providers? What can we expect in the future?
  
  
• Supplier rationalisation. Are there opportunities to reduce costs by consolidating news suppliers? If so, what are the pitfalls to avoid and the techniques to use?
  
  
• Q&As with the main news aggregators, delivering insight on their product strategies and plans.

We would love to get your feedback on these topics. If there are any news aggregation related topics which would be of interest to you, please contact me at andrew.grave@freepint.com.

Register Your Interest

The FreePint Topic Series: Beyond Aggregation will run from October–November 2013. Register your interest for notification of content and resources published as part of the series.

Register now »

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