Concluding the FreePint Topic Series: Beyond Aggregation
Jinfo Blog

By Andrew Grave

Abstract

The FreePint Topic Series: Beyond Aggregation concluded with our final article advising on the supplier selection process. The Series of over 50 articles and two webinars included full results of FreePint's Sixth Annual News Needs and Preferences Survey, product reviews, mini reviews, how-to guides and a case study of news in action in a City law firm. We interviewed leading vendors Acquire Media, Attensa, Comintelli, Dow Jones, Northern Light and Thomson Reuters.

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The FreePint Topic Series: Beyond Aggregation concluded with an article on the supplier selection process, including advice on getting buy-in from your stakeholders. This article covered the three pillars which together make news aggregation successful: culture, content and technology.

In producing the series, we've been aware of the radical changes that Dow Jones is implementing to its Factiva news aggregator. FreePint readers who have Factiva as their news aggregator have informed us that they are more likely now to consider reviewing their news aggregation solution.

Whilst the changes at Dow Jones set the backdrop for the series, other key themes have emerged. Encouragingly, the rise of social media content led one aggregator to tell us that his clients were prepared to pay for a return to the basics of tailored and accurate information which sometimes required a degree of human intervention. In our product reviews, the continual improvements in news aggregation tools, especially around functionality, came across strongly.

Webinars

The three pillars of a successful news aggregation project were explored in our two webinars which we have made available for you on demand. In "News Integration in Work Environments: Lessons from the Field", consultant Dave Filip shared with us two powerful news aggregation case studies. In "New Thinking on News Awareness: Technology, Content and Culture", our expert panel honed in on the three news aggregation pillars. Knowledge management consultant Shimrit Janes tackled the human elements, Charlie Davidson, CEO of Attensa, explored technology and David Seuss, CEO of Northern Light, dealt with content.

Providing Practical Support

Claire Whayman initiated our "how to" series of articles. Her comprehensive Market Map outlined the very wide range of choices available in news aggregation solutions.

Claire later explored The Use of Social Media News Aggregation Tools in a Corporate Environment. Social media was also one of the areas explored in Rachael Elliott's informative article The Online Information Researcher of 2014. Rachael guided us through the changing landscape of business information sources from the days of the microfiche through to the wealth of free information available on the web today.

Peers Share Their Experiences

In From Content Cost to Value: the Rise of the Content Adviser, Jantinus Meints of accountancy firm EY discussed how content advisers were crucial in identifying news content and making a business case for it. In her popular article News Aggregation Solution Gives City Law Firm RPC a Competitive Edge, Shimrit Janes demonstrated how the knowledge management team went beyond providing an aggregation solution to providing guidance on what to do with news.

Supporting You with Your News Aggregation Project

"Where do I start?" was a frequent question put to us when we commenced the series. As well as our webinars and case study, we published two helpful guides which addressed this question.

In Shortlisting your News Aggregation Suppliers, we discussed the criteria to use when undertaking this process. In the Supplier Selection Process, we outlined the framework for selecting your news supplier including the essential steps to successfully engage stakeholders.

Suppliers Share Their Different Approaches

In his eagerly-awaited recent interview with Dow Jones, Tim Buckley Owen found there is no turning back for the company in Journey to DJX had "Customers' Needs in Mind". It remains committed to incorporating Factiva into its broader DJX solution and to moving to a standardised pricing model.

Our other supplier Q&As delivered unique insights into the way that these companies view the news aggregation marketplace. As well as Attensa and Northern Light (highlighted above), we chatted with Comintelli, Thomson Reuters and Acquire Media (NewsEdge).

Product Reviews

With the sizeable number of providers in the market, product reviews formed a large part of the series. We produced in-depth reviews on Northern Light's SinglePoint, Nexis, Eureka.cc and Analytik, M-Adaptive, Meltwater News and Meltwater Buzz.

We also completed Mini Reviews on Silobreaker Premium, FirstRain, Newsdesk and NewsEdge.

Look out for our forthcoming review of Attensa StreamServer, last reviewed in August 2012. Our reviewer is currently putting the tool through its paces following a recent product overhaul.

Sixth Annual FreePint News Survey

Our Sixth Annual News Needs & Preferences Survey drew responses from nearly 300 information managers.

Amongst the survey's key findings were that the ability to redistribute news content is the most important variable for respondents when purchasing a news content provider. And nearly 40% of those who named Factiva as their preferred provider, and just under one-third of total respondents, are actively considering a change to their premium news service provider.

The FreePint Topic Series: Beyond Aggregation provides valuable insights via practical guidance on news aggregation issues, interviews with key providers and in-depth reviews on the leading products.

Editor's Note: Beyond Aggregation  

This article is part of the FreePint Topic Series: Beyond Aggregation, which ran from October to November 2013. You can still register your interest to receive a free copy of the FreePint Report: Buyer's Guide on News Content published in early December.

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