ScribbleLive

ScribbleLive is a content engagement platform, focusing on redefining content marketing through real-time content creation, publication, and syndication. It is one of the largest content engagement companies in the world^[1] and is used by major news organizations for real-time news delivery and event coverage. Privately owned company in Toronto, Canada and was founded by Michael De Monte and Jonathan Keebler in 2008.^[2]

ScribbleLive differs from traditional blogging by the real-time nature of its content publication. Liveblogs are automatically updated, streaming in content as it is published without refreshing the page.^[3] The ability to publish content as an event unfolds allows the publisher to share information instantaneously as it happens, not after the fact. A variety of content can be published via liveblogs, including SMS text messages, tweets, social media updates, voice mail, email, photographs, and video.^[4]

History

Michael De Monte and Jonathan Keebler were both employees at CTV when they started working on what would eventually become ScribbleLive, investing $1,500 into the initial project.^[5][6]

In 2009, De Monte and Keebler received seed funding from Rogers Ventures.^[7]

On November 10, 2011, Scribble Technologies Inc., ScribbleLive’s parent company, announced that it had raised $4 million in new financing, led by Summerhill Venture Partners.^[8]

ScribbleLive announced a second round of funding on June 19, 2013. This round of funding was led by Georgian Partners, and included Export Development Canada (EDC), Summerhill Venture Partners and Rogers Venture Partners. ^[9]

On June 14, 2014, Scribble Technologies Inc. acquired CoveritLive from Demand Media. ^[10]

Features

The browser-based application allows users to post and edit content, insert images and video, create polls, provide comments, moderate and curate the social web. The application has also been used for Q&A sessions and live chats. Each event is archived^[11] and real-time analytics generate statistics on the event's coverage.^[12]

The platform allows for collaboration between different parts of an organization, by allowing writers and editors to publish to and edit a liveblog simultaneously.^[13]

Social content is also curated through the application. Relevant Twitter hashtags or users can be followed in a liveblog, posting their content from Twitter as it created.^[14][15] Content from Facebook can also be pulled in, although the amount of accessible conversations is lower due to the social network's privacy policies.

Event Coverage

During the Egyptian Revolution, Al Jazeera was faced with multiple attempts to disrupt its coverage from Egypt.^[16] ScribbleLive set up a phone number that enabled Al Jazeera reporters to call in and leave audio messages on Al Jazeera's liveblog.^[17] Reporters had to resort to phoning in live updates^[18] to their Al Jazeera's liveblog, "to overcome the internet blackout and restrictions on its journalists, Al Jazeera was publishing audio messages from its correspondents in Egypt, powered by live-blogging platform ScribbleLive."^[19]

When the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, Reuters.com used ScribbleLive to send live updates to their users, including news, videos, and photos from their journalists.^[20]

In May 2014, The Boston Globe won a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News "for its exhaustive and empathetic coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings and the ensuing manhunt that enveloped the city, using photography and a range of digital tools to capture the full impact of the tragedy."^[21]

References