MSNBC Interactive has acquired the Seattle-based community news site Newsvine for an undisclosed sum. If you’re not familiar with Newsvine, it features some rather sophisticated tools to manage user-generated content in a social setting. Newsvine will remain a separate site, and MSNBC.com plans to integrate some of its social and community features. Newsvine CEO Mike Davidson will remain CEO and report to MSNBC President Charlie Tillinghast.
Couple interesting things to note here. This is MSNBC.com’s first acquisition in its 11-year history (it’s a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC). Second, this appears to be a great way for MSNBC.com to get a shot in the arm from Newsvine’s extensive experience in the user-generated content and social news space. “Newsvine is local, small, nimble — they don’t come with a lot of things you don’t want,†Tillinghast said. “There isn’t a lot to rearrange.†Arguably, that’s a perfect addition to a large media company. How MSNBC.com integrates Newsvine — how they draw the line between edited and unedited content — will be of great interest to those of us who work in online news.
Update: MSNBC.com’s Rex Sorgatz has now posted, “Why we bought Newsvine” on his personal blog. And it’s a must-read. “I’m convinced that Newsvine represents a different way of thinking about traditional media,” Rex writes. “For me personally, it’s a moment I have been anticipating for years: seeing how a big news outlet can interact with its audience, how it can learn from its audience, how it can cede control to its audience.” Absolutely, and congrats to Rex for being instrumental in the Newsvine deal.
Update: Newsvine’s Mike Davidson has posted about the acquisition on his personal blog. “So why would an independent, cost-efficient, growing startup like Newsvine which has taken very little venture capital want to join a huge organization like msnbc.com? The answer comes down to global impact. Our goal at Newsvine has always been to spread the ethos of participatory news as far and wide as possible, and what more dramatic way can that be accomplished than with a partner who reaches 85 million computers a month and has an offline presence on nearly every television set in the country?”