"Anna! We love you!" But Do We Really?

Fans gathering outside the church of Anna Nicole Smith's funeral service expressed their sentiment for the late reality TV star/former Playboy bunny on Friday. I wonder though, do the majority of Americans really love Anna Nicole so much that we want her on our front-page news day after day for over two weeks? For me, the answer to that question is a resounding no. Even one day on the frontpage is too much for me.

So, in honor of what was hopefully not just the burial of her body, but the burial of her news cycle saga as well, I'm going to talk about a social network that lets you and me control the news. Newsvine. Here, the users choose the headlines that they think are most important, and collectively they create the front page.

However, this is not just important for those fed up with mainstream media, this is essential for the blogging community as well. Why? Well, Newsvine not only allows you to choose which stories from the AP and other major media outlets make it to the top, it also allows you to "seed" articles from less mainstream sites and post your own stories. That means top-ranked blog seeds and user stories appear right next to top-ranked mainstream news articles. Talk about giving people a variety of viewpoints, and enabling premium exposure for everyone!


Think you've seen this before? Skeptical? In a blog4brains article I was reading, the author makes a great plug for why Newsvine might be better than other social networking sites (i.e. MySpace and Digg). Check out the article and Newsvine to see more of the many convenient and addicting features offerred to users.

I see this network really going places. The community is very active within the Newsvine, they just need to get word about it out. In my opinion, Newsvine is the future. It will be the source that takes the blogosphere more mainstream and really puts consumers in charge of their news. Do you see dollar signs? I know I do. $$$! The advertising dollars are a-coming. And did I mention all users are automatically registered for their revenue-sharing program? Yeah. This is the real deal.