Yesterday, Yahoo launched “You Witness News”:http://news.yahoo.com/you-witness, a site that allows users to upload photos and videos for use on Yahoo News and “Reuters”:http://today.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage.aspx?type=youwitness&src=cms.
Both companies remain vague about their plans for this site. I suspect there is something brewing beyond publishing Joe_User’s photos on Yahoo News.
One of the mysteries is the benefit to the user. Right now, there isn’t any user generated content so it’s impossible to tell if there will be photo or video credits. What about monetary compensation? As other companies build out similar systems surely the dollar will play a role as to who gets “my scoop”.
I think the bigger story lurking here is around local content. Yahoo is going to be capturing great local content and will no doubt be leveraging it. I’ll be following this closely, as I’m sure many local TV and newspaper sites will as well.
written by Geoff Teehan
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