As part of a much broader effort to make social media a key
component of its Olympic coverage, NBC News and NBC Owned TV Stations have
unveiled plans to work together to collect and curate the best social media
content from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other sources using the social
media tool Storify.
Storify allows users to search a variety of social networks
and then arrange elements from that social media -- photos, videos, tweets,
etc. -- into stories.
Using Storify, this social experience will be shared across Today.com and the Owned Television Station websites, pulling contributions from hundreds of NBC journalists and producers on the ground in the U.K., as well as social media users around the world.
Burt Herman, cofounder of Storify, noted in a statement that
"the Olympics are a primetime example of how social media can help tell the
story, as athletes and fans are reporting what's happening in real time. With
all of the updates, photos and stories being shared across the Web,
organizations like NBC can use Storify to create a narrative and make sure all
this great content doesn't get lost in the noise."
The Storify experience will be embedded on Today.com,
NBCNewYork.com, NBCLA.com, NBCChicago.com, NBC10.com (Philadelphia),
NBCDFW.com, NBCBayArea.com, NBCWashington.com, NBC6.com (Miami/South Florida),
NBC7.com (San Diego), and NBCConnecticut.com.
"The 2012 Olympic Games will be more social than ever and
Storify enables us to capture and report on the social stories coming out of
the Games in a unique, Web-native way," said Vivian Schiller, chief digital officer
of NBC News in a statement. Schiller added their teams will "scour the Web for
the best content and update the page continuously" throughout the Olympics.
