BNO News - Latest Comments in BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

Ryan Waggoner — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:00:23 -0000

First of all, great job on BNO. It's definitely one of the fastest news sources that I've ever seen. My problem is that you don't really explain to me what benefit it is to be that much faster. Granted, I knew about the crane collapse in NYC 20 mins before the major news outlets reported it, but so what? I'm afraid that speed is your main benefit, but it's not a benefit to most users. In fact, for me, it's usually annoying because I can't get any more info! After I see something interesting on BNO, I usually want more info, but because you're so fast, no one has any. And 140 chars is rarely enough to tell me what I want to know. You could solve this by posting more info of your own and linking to it, but you still need to make a case for why the average person needs their news 20 mins before everyone else.

I think if it were me, I would try and figure out ways to target demographic groups that want their news super super fast. News junkies, sure, but also news agencies and journalists, bloggers, stock traders, etc. Maybe also consider doing regional twitter users so I can just see breaking news in my region + major breaking global news.

I would also focus on making sure that every tweet I sent had a link back to bnonews.com with more info on the breaking story. A couple paragraphs, links to sources, a photo, ANYTHING. Even if you come up with some kind of workflow where you record all the phone calls you make to sources and post the useful ones online. Whatever...just give people something more substantial to look at ASAP.

That's my .02 :-)

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

John Wilpers — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:37:33 -0000

Hi,

Write me, perhaps we can help. I am John Wilpers, the editor of a new site called breakingnews.com. We might be able to direct a lot of traffic your way, if that would help. I like what you're doing and would love to be of assistance.

John Wilpers
Editor
BreakingNews.com
jwilpers@breakingnews.com

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

Ryan Waggoner — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:34:36 -0000

That's my .02 :-)

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

McFly — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:15:14 -0000

Well, without having read this post I donated a few days ago because I appreciate the service. I thought it would have been nice to receive an email saying thanks, which most people or organizations to which I've donated have done. Just a suggestion.

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

McFly — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:11:18 -0000

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

BNO News — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:52:03 -0000

Just send you an e-mail, thanks!

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

Thomas Wanhoff — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:35:32 -0000

Guys I want to donate but always got connecting problems to paypal. may i just know your paypal name so i can make a transaction? LOVE your great service!

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

Raj Anand — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 13:22:54 -0000

I think you guys are doing a fabulous job. Will make a small donation, hopefully you can discover a business model to sustain your existence. I would second the thought of advertising. I wouldn't mind an advertisement tweet once or twice everyday

Once again, keep up the good work !

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

sidesey — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:38:09 -0000

Agree with a lot of the comments here, great service, good to read the blog and know the history as a relatively new user. You really ought to have a commercial partner in this, or sponsorship or something more concrete. I don't really think you can make a living from paypal donations. If indeed that's what you are trying to do! Good luck!

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

BNO News — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:45:52 -0000

Yes, you are right apparently. I don't understand why, I just got off the phone with Paypal and everything is set to english as it should be. Seems to be a problem with ChipIn and the ChipIn website doesn't show a solution either. Still working on it, but for now, people can go to www.bnonews.com and click on the banner where they are redirected to the english page as it should be.

By the way, thank you for your donation! I just received it, it's very much appreciated.

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

James — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:39:15 -0000

It was still in Dutch when I donated just now.

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

BNO News — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:55:19 -0000

Sorry, I just fixed it. Thanks!

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

Zach Wilt — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:40:53 -0000

I'm a big fan of BNO...and I see its future as a lot more than just a Twitter service. I'm a broke college student that gets news updates on his phone from BNO alone. I remember watching TV news coverage of the U.S. election and BNO broke that John McCain would step down and give a speech in a half hour. I flipped through every news channel trying to find anyone else reporting this but got nothing more for another 10 or so minutes. That is when I realized that BNO could be so much more. I would gladly donate to this good service but unfortunately my wallet won't let me. I feel like many are in my position. But I would be fine with receiving ads in the feed.

Why not grow? I'm sure news agencies would gladly pay for a service like this to break news on.

Just my thoughts.

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

James Britton — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:51:46 -0000

Thanks for that, you should still fix the chip in badge, it's in Dutch

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

Aaron Myers — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:29:42 -0000

Go to http://www.bnonews.com and you can donate from there :)

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

James Britton — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 07:40:03 -0000

Um, you might bring in more than $10 worth of donations if your paypal site was in English instead of Dutch. Can't read it! I was going to donate but could not find 'United States' in the dropdown list of countries.

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

Joe — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:22:31 -0000

I'm curious to know if you pay AP or Reuters or any of the local news organizations you monitor and then Twitter from. What are your costs, besides the time commitment?

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

Al_Smith — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:29:09 -0000

Support Breakingnewson!!!!!!!!!

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

gary Gerbrandt — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:58:21 -0000

I think the easiest answer by far is to search for corporate sponsors and use their advertising over Twitter. I'd imagine it'd be easy to tweet an ad.

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

Conrad Quilty-Harper — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:23:40 -0000

What you should do:
1) Abandon the idea that you'll ever be able to support a business on donations alone.
2) Go commercial. Start selling ads.
3) Seek funding. Build a business plan and aim to get bought.

Just don't give up on this idea. There's clearly something here. You just need to experiment a little more.

To give up now would be a complete waste.

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

Brad — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:22:18 -0000

I liked the service and I hope you can keep it going.

Sometimes I feel four tweets within five minutes about a tremor in Africa is a bit much.

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

floozyspeak — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:15:11 -0000

I'd rather see you all do an occasional ad model infusion, even if that risks the follower base to unfollow you. You could take the guise of twitter off of this and say blog, and say, hey guys i get 10k followers who like my blog, but come pay me, and i'm sorry but thats every bloggers plight on the planet. I think if anything BNO was an interesting experiment and a viable case study for any other portal news provider. What you should do is take your experience, case study, etc, and go make a case to Reuters, USAToday etc, and get acquired.

Teeing that conversation up and getting that likely hood may be difficult but thats probably the smartest most financial savvy play out there.

You ask twitters for money, but you know thats unlikely. You can hit them with ads and risk twitter or followers themselves to bail. You could also find a way to automate the process even more and minimize human downtime involved.

I dunno which path you'll take. But ya know people spread the news they get, you're not that unique in the world of twitter. Did you provide a service and people dug it, yes, but does that equate cash right now or you'll die, people will you at the door in heart beat in this new medium.

Who's to say USAtoday won't do the exact same thing, and maybe it wont be as fresh, but then what stops some else and so on and so on.

I'd try and find a way to keep it alive and position yourself to be noticed by Reuters or other news portals. Especially now as twitter begins to take off, this isn't the time to bail, but then again I'm not you, in your shoes or know what you know.

I would formalize a biz plan, try for some funding and keep the light on. Maybe not as often but keep it on.

@floozyspeak

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

Stephen G — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:14:39 -0000

I agree with Ivo, ... figure out a way to monetize. I see that you do host some stories on bnonews.com, and thus have sponsor ads on those pages, but you do that for only a few alerts.

But if you got a breaking story from a web page, and won't be creating a bnonews.com page for it, simply create an Adjix link to the source page and add the Adjix link in your alert.

With Adjix you collect ad revenue commissions. http://www.adjix.com/

And don't stop tooting your own horn. Not too many times will thousands know about an incident before 911 gets the call (per your New York head on bush crash summary).

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

gguillotte — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:13:39 -0000

If you won't transmit the news through Twitter, how will you do it?

Re: BreakingNewsOn downtime: Why?

Ivo — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:52:03 -0000

I like your service, but why solicit support and not turn it into a commercial organization? You could probably easily sell your feed to radio stations, websites etc, like press agencies like ANP, Reuters etc. do. Your advantage is that you're faster (mind you though that the reason the others are often slower is a double/double check to avoid false news), and more direct. That should have some commercial value