I have been looking for an app that helps me keep up with news stories involving our clients. The one I have been using and would suggest that PR people download is called Breaking News, a unit of NBC News. I spoke recently to Cory Bergman, one of the three founders, who launched the app in 2011 as part of MSNBC Interactive. Here are highlights from our conversation.
- Breadth of Coverage — You can choose to follow up to 90,000 topics, including several thousand companies. When a story breaks, you get a push notification and link to the original source that broke the story. You can also track client industries, the government agencies that regulate your clients, and issues specific to the client such as food safety.
- Speed — Bergman told me that Breaking News routinely delivers updates 30 minutes faster than Google Alerts.
- Pertinent News — “We have metadata related to location and topics. We use our editorial judgment on importance of the story. In that way we can target specific news to those with the most need for the news. It is a combination of technology and people.”
- Editor’s Notes — “Our nine editors point out differences in coverage by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal for example. This allows PR people to work more effectively.”
- Proximity Alerts — If there are major news events such as the terrorist action in Paris, the user gets an alert if he or she is nearby. There were 2,400 such alerts in 2015. Editor’s notes are added as the stories unfold.
- Users Come Direct — Almost 90 percent of the traffic comes direct to Breaking News, not through Facebook or Twitter. “We are the most direct news brand in the digital space.”
- Advance Notice — The editors offer a weekly email and Medium newsletter to give you a heads up on news that will develop in the coming week.
- Keep the Story Moving — One of our key tasks in PR is to get a mainstream media article into the social conversation. Breaking News offers a Slack app that “pipes the major story alerts into chat channels.” For maximum reach with employees, there is a bridge to Microsoft Office 365 Connectors for a Breaking News alert.
Bergman told me that Breaking News currently has a niche audience that’s popular among “serious influencers” who work in news, finance and government. “Our goal is to curate news for everybody else.” I have been working on a crisis assignment that has been front page news for the past several weeks. Breaking News has been an invaluable partner in my life, with the news alert providing the perfect excuse to get out of budget meetings and do some PR work, my real love.
Richard Edelman is president and CEO.