msnbc

MySpace partners with NBC, MSNBC for political convention contest

MySpace's political initiatives didn't end with the primaries: the News Corp.-owned social network has unveiled a contest in conjunction with NBC News and MSNBC.com in anticipation of the major parties' campaign conventions.

Part of the Decision '08 initiative between MySpace and NBC News, it's a competition to choose MySpace's "citizen journalist" correspondents at the major parties' national conventions later this summer.

Entrants, who must be MySpace members who are 18 years or older, must answer one of the following questions via a video submission: "Why do you vote?" "Why … Read more

Playing games with news: MSNBC NewsWare

If you like your news straight up, just the facts, gray lady style, skip this story. MSNBC is launching some new toys for its news service that let you scan headlines in creative (and goofy) ways, and even play games with them. They're all part of the MSNBC NewsWare service.

Spectra is the service's new headline viewer. You select the categories you want to see, and it throws them up in an orbiting view for you. Each category has a color associated with it, which presumably gives you some subliminal clue as to where each headline fits in … Read more

NBC News powers election site on MySpace

Social network MySpace might've chosen MTV as its media partner for the 2008 presidential primaries, but on Tuesday it'll be launching an election news hub in conjunction with the more traditional NBC News and MSNBC.com.

Called Decision '08, the new site is part of MySpace's "Impact" political channel, and showcases election news (complete with links to MySpace profiles of NBC News anchors and analysts), opinion, video from MSNBC, polls, and a discussion forum.

This is very similar to what MySpace rival Facebook is doing through a partnership with ABC News. For NBC, it's … Read more

Microsoft producing series of Web shows

Watch out, Hollywood. Here comes Microsoft.

At an event it called Digital Showcase, held Thursday in New York, the software giant told a group of ad execs that it is getting into the business of producing original Web shows for its wide range of Web platforms.

According to MediaWeek, Microsoft told the ad execs that the shows it is funding will be naturals for supporting online advertising.

The shows are slated to run on portals like MSN, Xbox Live, and MSNBC.com. Among the initial series are: 50 Greatest, which MediaWeek said is "a spoof of the multiple pop … Read more

MSNBC buys social news site Newsvine

Normally we don't report acquisition news, but this one is pretty interesting. MSNBC has scooped up social news service Newsvine for an undisclosed amount. Both services are based out of Seattle and have been in talks for the last five months. Newsvine will continue to operate independently and serve up a mix of professionally produced and user-generated content, remaining a separate brand and entity from MSNBC.com. But content from Newsvine users could be making its way onto MSNBC.com in the near future.

This is a really solid deal for both parties. Newsvine and its users get a … Read more

MSNBC mistakes a 'fake Al Sharpton' blog for the real thing

When News Groper, an entire site full of "fake celebrity" blogs in the vein of Fake Steve Jobs, launched earlier this summer, some people (myself included) thought it would have a rough time making a name for itself on the Web. There's so much online comedy already out there, and after the rise and fall of Fake Steve, I thought the blog community would've had enough of celebrity satire (celebritire?)

Now, however, it looks like News Groper may have had its big break--MSNBC reporter Alex Johnson mistook one of its blogs for real, and quoted it … Read more