Thursday, September 4, 2008

AP, Reuters, AFP, CNN, The NY Times - Who really gets it

The last time I did a piece on the news wires, it was about Reuters.

A gentleman from AFP chimed in at the time noting they had a growing presence in the US, and factually, they are now more visible on Yahoo and in other places.

Reuters continues to innovate.  The first (to my knowledge ... CNN now does it too) to allow embeddable video in blogs, now they've got widgets.

Not just widgets, but if you're on the Blogger platform, one button, easy to install widgets!  (Hey guys ... psst ... WordPress).

Add this relatively new selection to their Blogburst content and ongoing Yahoo You Witness News partnership ... and you've got a visionary group that is well out in front  ... and they continue to innovate.

Unfortunately, there is no tech widget (yet) but there are a few to choose from, and just I added the news to  the right column as an example.  It took less than a minute.  Instant marketing for Reuters.  Period.  Unprecedented, no.  Smart?  How can anyone argue?

So, as Anderson Cooper and Rick Sanchez who now are both now Twittering away (really)......

Twittering is cool, but free instant promotion across potentially tens of thousands of blogs is better.

Update:  The National Weather Service has also rolled out a few new widgets.  Track Hanna - lower right!