Video, Verification, Value: Why News Corp’s Purchase of Storyful Deserves Your Attention

By: Craig Silverman | Poynter

I first met Storyful CEO Mark Little at the 2011 ONA Conference in Boston. We headed off to find a quiet corner so I could hear more about what exactly a “social news agency” was.

“Three words: it’s discovery, it’s verification, it’s delivery,” Little told me. “I think that’s essentially the three component parts of the new form of social news.”
 
I was amazed they were basically running an outsourced verification service for other news outlets.

“I see the need,” I wrote. “The question is, can verification form the basis of a viable business?”