Newsware at MSNBC
I love this, absolutely adore it!
The Product
MSNBC are launching some new, interactive, interpretative news services, called Newsware. Lots of different ways to get news, different interfaces, some games or more serious stuff such as RSS feeds or IM alerts.
What I think of the Product
The first sentence says it all - I loved it. News can be pretty boring, but this presents it in a way that adds a little more interest and visual information than a straight list of headlines in your normal feeds. You can get it straight or engaging and fun
The first thing i went to was the Spectra Virtual Newsreader and my reaction was delight. At the heart of this is a straightforward RSS reader that pulls newsfeeds from your chosen topics, (all MSNBC feeds, can’t find a way of loading your own). The joy in it is how it displays the news.
A spiralling rainbow of stories. Click on it and you start to work your way through the feeds - although it does not appear that you can choose which stories from the colour cloud but that it does it in order. Being able to pick and choose, as an alternative reading way, would improve it. Another far more important improvement would be for it to remember my settings! Update: I keep forgetting I’m using a beta version of Firefox which has caused problems on other sites for me as well. It should remember the settings. The good people at SS+K, the developers, have been keeping me up to date on the changes, so it will all work on FF3 when released.
A wonderful little toy is the Colour Sensor. If you have a web cam, it assesses the main colour in view and shows you stories linked the colour. Pretty useless for actually browsing the news, but, my, it’s fun. The service has games to play as well, bringing the headlines to you, to catch your eye and let you stop to read when you want. I spent too much time playing them when I should be writing!
This is not a serious news reading interface, but as a way to engage people, to let them browse headlines it’s a great development. From a marketing viewpoint, I can absolutely guarantee that somewhere, on some site, you will get the same type of interface to give you product news, or entertainment news, or whatever is seen to be relevant to the brand. The colour recognition through the camera is also going to pop up somewhere.
What I thought of the pitch
Of the 2 dozen or so emails I have in the inbox at the moment, this is the best. Izzy, from 360i, had read the blog, calling comment on the fact I was so far behind in about stuff, sent me a email that intrigued me, something that was interesting and offered me more if I needed it. He did not send a ‘pitch’, not even a ‘personalised’ one. He gets an A
(All screenshots from the newsware sites)
Tags: msnbc, newswareRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Advertising Agencies, Engaging the Customer, Fun and Games, Pitches
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