Start-up needs help

[Andrew]

I've been working on a project over the past year that could really use some help from the group.

Newsvetter is designed to help journalists/bloggers extract higher quality information from companies and their PR agencies. Instead of sending press releases, PR people go through a two-step vetting Q&A process on the site designed to personalize and customize the news for the individual journalist/blogger.

In a nutshell, here's the problem: The mass distribution model for news (e.g., newswires, mass pitching) is causing too much misdirected and low quality corporate content to land in journalist/blogger inboxes. Media don’t have enough info from PR pros to quickly ascertain news value and therefore waste valuable time following false leads and/or miss legitimate news stories due to information overload.

Newsvetter's beta is currently set up to at least start addressing this problem. What I'm looking for from you: general feedback on the site; people willing to help me test it out and provide feedback on the experience; suggestion for additional features that would enhance the experience for journalist/bloggers.

I'm going to be in S.F. from June 6-12 to meet with potential investors and journalists. If anyone lives there or can suggest some people I should meet with let me know.

In the interim here are some additional details on how journalists/PR can use Newsvetter.

You'll probably want to register to get a better sense of what I'm trying to do.

Thanks folks. Feel free to email me: [e-mail] with any comments/questions.

[Brad King]

My thought would be to talk with Digidave here on the site, since I think he's in SF -- and working on what I think could be a companion.

I've also got friends at the Berkeley J-School -- and I can introduce you to a bunch of journos out there if you need that.

I would talk with Kevin Dugan, who is on the list, as well. He's a smart PR guy.

[Andrew]

Thanks. Kevin has already been a great help. Digidave has offered to take a closer look at the site as well. I would totally like to meet other journos in SF. Please send them my way. My goal is to get 5-10 journalists to really start testing the site with PR folks.

[Brad King]

Well before I go introducing you around, maybe we can set up a time to chat about what you are looking for -- and we can do a walk-through on the site.

Then, I'll do a big mass intro.

Why does it have to be SF specific? I ask because I have JOU contacts all over the country after 15 years in this silly ass business.

[Andrew]

Sounds good. Let me know what time will work for you. I'm in Portland, OR. Doesn't have to be in S.F. I'm going to be down there so just wanted to maximize my time. Be happy to talk with anyone via phone, email, smoke signals etc.

[Brad King]

Oh, you should talk with John Gartner, the Matter Network. Smart tech guy -- my old editor at Wired. Check it out and tell him I sent you -- or I can introduce you if that's good.

Friday works for me. You have skype?

[Andrew]

I'll check him out. I'll be on a plane on Friday. But I could chat with you in the p.m. maybe around 4 p.m. I'm available right now if that works for you. No skype. Tried it once and it failed miserably.

[Digidave]

Andrew
I was going to send you an email later today re: NewsVetter.

Looking over the site brings me back to when I worked at Seed Magazine on their web department. We used to field TONS of press releases. So I can see a real value added if this service works.

Most of my critique isn't substantial - it's more minor nit-picky things that are really a result of using Drupal. And it should be noted that I am HYPER sensitive to Drupal sites (I did my masters thesis on the narrative of Drupal and can spot a Drupal site within .05 seconds).

Also: In my email to you - I will completely ignore the point of view of a PR prof. I'm sure they have a total different set of requirements - and therein lies your difficulty.

I wonder if you can learn from sites like TechCrunch and Mashable - they are probably spewed with pitches -- and I bet now those pitches are tailor made for them.

Just some thoughts off the top of my head - I'll try and email you later tonight with more thoughts.

Also: BRAD: Don't forget when Spot.Us launches I'd really value any connections you still have here in the bay area.

[Brad King]

hahaha - I'm happy to share my contacts with you as well Dave.

@Andrew: I wonder if it would be worthwhile to meet with PR folks as well, since they will be using it. I know loads of them -- and many involved in social media.

[Andrew]

I used to come from the PR world so I'm working that angle pretty hard. But sure, I'll talk to your PR contacts as well. From my experience, PR folks won't do anything different until journalists start demanding it. Hence my initial focus on getting them signed up and using the site.

[Brad King]

Hah. That is probly true. We certainly don't like to change unless it's OUR change.

[Andrew]

Thanks David. Looking forward to your feedback. RE: TechCrunch and Mashable. They would be an ideal candidate to test Newsvetter.

[Diane Bisgeier]

hi Andrew - I shared this w/a friend of mine who freelances for Time and used to be in PR (she's def more of a journalist than a PR person though). In the meantime, my one reaction/question was, would all journalists see the same stories at once? Seems like they tend to want to have exclusive "scoop" rights vs. writing about something that they know their peers already are exposed to, so not sure how that would be handled on the site....interestingly, I think that can also go for corporate folks who are approached by a journalist with an idea for a feature - they'd want to know that it only ran in a certain pub, etc....?