NBC News hopes to take advantage of smartphone-wielding eyewitnesses to news events by streaming video from their handheld devices straight into NBC's news room. The news organization announced Monday it had acquired Stringwire, a new online service currently in private beta.
Stringwire lets you take multiple live smartphone video feeds and turn them into an online news broadcast. The person controlling the webpage can switch among camera views and invite others to stream video as well.
The Stringwire purchase appears to be largely an "acqui-hire" for NBC News, a term usually reserved for online services that buy smaller start-ups for the team behind it, not necessarily the technology. Stringwire's founder Phil Groman will join NBC News' Digital Group in San Francisco as Product Lead.
Some of the biggest news stories in recent months didn't break on a news website or a 24-hour news channel, but on social media. Whether you're talking about the tragic Asiana airlines disaster in San Francisco, the Chelyabinsk meteor, or the pursuit of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, these stories all appeared online first thanks to eyewitness tweets, photos, and YouTube videos.
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