Brafton has reported that news drives the majority of traffic to top social networking sites, including Facebook and Twitter. Now, the microblogging site's cofounder, Biz Stone, has told Reuters he wants to create a news network with Twitter.
At the recent Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford technology event, Stone articulated his belief that Twitter has been something of a "news wire" since the very beginning. This may be true; a Chitika study reveals that news accounts for nearly half (47 percent) of Twitter traffic. This means about 50 percent of the 95 million daily Tweets on the site are news-related.
Plus, a CNN study covered by Brafton reveals that the majority of online news sharing happens via social sites. Facebook and Twitter account for 43 percent of shared news online.
Stone wants to harness the news sharing that happens on his site by creating a news network. He doesn't envision it being a Twitter exclusive service, but rather a partnership of existing organizations. "I think a Twitter News Service would be something that would be very open and shared with many different news organizations around the world," he told the source.
This development could mean that brands offering news content will gain more exposure by being featured in Twitter's News Network. Moreover, the network speaks to consumers' increasing interest in finding news online.
Twitter is not the only company showing interest in launching a news platform. Brafton recently reported that News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch will be launching an iPad exclusive newspaper, called The Daily, to try to bring revenue to the news industry. Meanwhile, hard news has proven to produce revenue for sites online.
As Brafton has reported, consumers are increasingly looking for news online, but not necessarily from newspapers. Seventy-eight percent of Americans turn to the web to stay on top of breaking news, and brands that position themselves as industry thought leaders may convert readers into customers.
