What's Next?
For now, Bergman thinks the new additions are a step in the right direction to create a social breaking news stream. "When you blend the voice of the crowd and editors who don't sleep into the equation, I think we can get there," he said.
So when news breaks, readers will get a real-time news stream of not just news organizations, but what people are publishing through tweets or videos on YouTube — or photos through TwitPic and other services. And though the stream is mostly just that right now, Bergman said MSNBC is looking at unique ways to visualize the information, and that it may be achieved through an iPad application.
The iPhone application is currently pretty simple, including the stream of breaking news and also utilizing the push notifications in the app. Bergman said the current mobile apps are just the beginning and that the company is thinking about ways to integrate live streaming video from mobile, which has some incredible implications in being able to get breaking news video in real-time.
Because BreakingNews started with a social presence and not the other way around, the actual website hasn't fully taken off and gets only some 50,000 visits a month, according to Compete. But then again, the site hasn't offered much of anything different from its Twitter account aside from filtering options until now. The added features are a start to a site for curated and social breaking news from the crowd. The only question is whether users will find it useful enough from their other consumption tools and breaking news sources.