In a bid to boost its online offerings, CNN announced the roll-out of a user-submitted site called Exchange. At Exchange's core is the notion that news can happen anywhere, anytime -- often when professional camera crews, news teams, and reporters aren't there. Enter millions of citizens armed with camera phones, digital cameras and camcorders . Until now, YouTube has been the beneficiary of much of this content. But YouTube, despite its huge audience, doesn't offer viewers the assurance that videos are verified as real or were shot during a news event. So how will CNN give videos a more official feel while capturing viewers?
- Verified Content - Content will be reviewed and verified by reporters before being distributed. CNN's immense resources will let it verify uploads and ensure credibility -- especially appealing to older viewers who don't use or trust YouTube content.
- Integration into CNN Pipeline - CNN hasn't yet said it will integrate Exchange into its subscription news service Pipeline, but it makes sense. User-uploaded content would add new depth to the service.
CNN is on the right track. But there are some caution flags:
- Easy to Replicate - Expect Fox News, MSNBC and other major news players to quickly incorporate similar services into their news offerings.
- Competition from Non-News Sites - Young users of cell phone video cameras outside CNN's demographic may choose to publish their hot news on sites such as YouTube, not CNN. CNN should market heavily to these younger users,and might even offer financial compensation for clips that make it on the air. This is something YouTube is not yet doing.
Overall, Exchange is a necessary step for CNN, costing little besides dedicating existing resources to verifying content. The question now is: Will CNN offer compensation or will users simply volunteer to be citizen journalists, knowing CNN is making money off their content? YouTube does not face the same corporate stigma and may see more content uploaded . Without any other verifiable source of aggregate user-uploaded news content, CNN steps ahead in the race to redefine online news, for now.
