Vivian Schiller, Twitter’s head of news, announced today that the company is partnering with CNN and the New York startup Dataminr. The initiative will help journalists cover breaking news by organizing the constant influx of public information on Twitter.
Dataminr is a five year-old startup that has raised over $48 million from investors. It previously has worked with financial services, helping banks make investment decisions by processing social media content and pulling the most valuable information. Using specific machine algorithms, Dataminr hopes to sift through Twitter’s filler to find the gems, so CNN reporters can find the most relevant facts and images from all across the country.
The company has a new tool built specifically for journalists, separating news into different feeds and pinging reporters via mobile app with alerts about breaking content. Many websites have looked to Twitter for their news gathering for over five years now, and this partnership indicates how serious it has become. For example, Dataminr told its financial clients that the AP tweet about the White House explosion was fake a full five minutes before the AP made its own corrections. This past weekend, CNN learned about the Maryland mall shooting through Dataminr.
Expect this to be a gamechanger for CNN, as curated Twitter information should give them the upper hand on their competition.
[via TechCrunch]
