MSNBC.com Taking Over @BreakingNews Twitter Feed
Becomes first client of BNONews wire service as part of deal
By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/23/2009 12:15:32 PM
MSNBC.com will take over one of Twitter's most popular feeds for news, @BreakingNews, as part of a deal with the feed's creator, BNO News.
Under the terms of the deal, MSNBC.com will become the first client of BNO News' new wire service, set to launch in early 2010.
The wire service will continue to be a "key input" for the @BreakingNews feed, but MSNBC will have the leeway to link to its own content as well.
For BNO News, giving MSNBC.com control of the feed lets the company focus on developing its new services.
MSNBC is the second major cable news channel to take over a Twitter feed developed by someone else. In April 2009, CNN acquired @CNNBrk, a Twitter feed that linked to the top stories on CNN.com.
In many respects, @BreakingNews is even more prime real estate, as it has an existing wide subscriber base, and is not tied to any one network in name.
The move also boosts MSNBC.com's Twitter presence by an order of magnitude. @BreakingNews has more than 1.4 million followers, while @MSNBC currently has just over 27,000.
"News consumers increasingly demand a variety of sources and viewpoints, even while they expect information to find them whenever and wherever they want it," said Jennifer Sizemore, MSNBC.com Editor-in-Chief. "BNO News has built its audience following these principles and we are excited to use our partnership with them to build on the fastest, most comprehensive feed of breaking news on Twitter."
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