Hi everyone,

this is my first post, and I've signed up to hear about your experience with Newzulu ( newbielink:http://www.newzulu.com/ [nonactive]). I didn't find any post about them in the forums, so I thought I'd create a new one.

Newzulu say they are "a news platform with a community of over 100000 professional and citizen journalists who share and break news to the world as it happens." The reason I find Newzulu interesting is that they are all about news content - photos, videos, live videos, articles. They have lots of partner agencies, and recently partnered with Tribune Media and Getty Images, and they keep expanding, so you get exposure to big companies now. They have features like "newscalls", which is when news agencies ask for certain news coverage/content in pictures and video. So instead of sending their own news team, they look for people who are on the spot to create the content the agency needs. It seems like you can write and sell news articles there, too.

They even have a live news app, where you can act as a live reporter by using your smartphone.  I guess that modern smartphones deliver good enough quality anyway. There's a video on newbielink:http://newzululimited.com/ [nonactive] that explains the concept.

It seems to me they're quite unique, particularly with all the partnerships they have (Czech press, French press, US press/media, Australian press, and so on). Has anyone used them? Sounds kind of cool, a bit like in the Nightcrawler movie. I've found this video ( newbielink:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFCbHCNArIQ [nonactive]) where their CEO explains how someone earned some 50k with a single smartphone video.

I think it's a very interesting concept that your content is made immediately available to important news agencies and media companies in the whole news world, and could, in theory, appear on a big news website or even on TV within minutes. They seem to screen the content for quality standards and relevance, so there is a delay for live streams, but other than that, you could end up seeing your news video on Fox News an hour later.

I'm happy to hear about your experience with them and will sign up with them soon and report myself. Imagine a UFO lands in your garden and you don't have the app to earn big money as a reporter. 

Would love to hear if someone lands a big selling hit with their video/picture.

I LOVE to watch the MSG WIRE BRUSH in action!!~

From the video of the CEO, it sounds like the royalty is 32.5%.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  Can't you just come on and announce your new platform without the ridiculous subterfuge.

It just makes people start off thinking you are dishonest, so why should they trust you to be transparent about anything else on your site? Including when sales of our work are made.

Hmm, maybe my post sounded a bit too positive, and I apologise if it has been mistaken. It's probably because I like their business idea a lot, so I'm actually talking about them a lot with friends, and even ended up buying some shares earlier this year. So yeah, maybe the post ended up sounding like an ad. But I don't think that "welcoming" a newbie in the forum like some have is appropriate either, and I don't think that a rant is fitting. A new member should be welcomed and not attacked like that.

Yet again, I apologise if my post sounded a bit too enthusiastic or like an "ad" as some claimed. I'm definitely not associated with Newzulu in any way, I'm just an enthusiast.

Had a look but can't find what percentage they pay.  There's a typo on this page. they left the "i" out, first word of the answer.

http://www.newzulu.co.uk/en/faq.html#newsworthystory

What if I photograph or film a crime?

f we believe a submission to Newzulu records a crime or event for which there is a responsibility to inform authorities, our policy is to immediately report such materials to all relevant authorities.

Quote from: funnelweb on June 10, 2015, 04:54

It's probably because I like their business idea a lot, so I'm actually talking about them a lot with friends, and even ended up buying some shares earlier this year.

Yet again, I apologise if my post sounded a bit too enthusiastic or like an "ad" as some claimed. I'm definitely not associated with Newzulu in any way, I'm just an enthusiast.

Sorry, but if you've bought some shares then you are associated with them......

Well yeah, the "association" of a share holder to a company is that of part owner. You can't be more "associated" than that.

Quote from: sgoodwin4813 on June 10, 2015, 09:21

Quote from: funnelweb on June 10, 2015, 04:54

It's probably because I like their business idea a lot, so I'm actually talking about them a lot with friends, and even ended up buying some shares earlier this year.

Yet again, I apologise if my post sounded a bit too enthusiastic or like an "ad" as some claimed. I'm definitely not associated with Newzulu in any way, I'm just an enthusiast.

Sorry, but if you've bought some shares then you are associated with them......

Well yeah, the "association" of a share holder to a company is that of part owner. You can't be more "associated" than that.

Maybe you're right, I didn't see it that way. I just meant that I'm not working for them, or advertising on their behalf, like some thought. Ok guys, you convinced me, I should have opened the thread in a different way to avoid misconception. I'm still convinced of them, of course. I'll try to leave "feelings" aside in my posts in the future.

This is fantastic they say that they are jouralists but the don't even know the difference between having legal contol over something and writing about it, this how it's spelt "copywriter" or it was when I was in the trade.

If they can't spell what else can't they do, probably pay for the work you do for them!!!

David May

So from the press release that Sean dug up - which has more buzzwords per square inch than should be legal - is the following gem:

"Today's announcement brings together all forms of user generated content (photography, videography, live video streaming and copyrighting), ..."

Copyrighting is a form of content? I might be persuaded that "citizen generated content" was a step up from user generated content as a term companies use when they mean "the great unwashed" but are trying to avoid saying it, but it's just more euphemisms. If anyone can submit stuff to them, then that's the business model - why go to such great lengths to point out the background of the people submitting?

Then there is "...to approach Newzulu's existing news agency partners and clients, on a revenue share basis..." which I take to mean that whatever the buyer pays gets split three ways - the two companies sharing revenue and whatever's left for the contributor who actually made the image or video.

This wouldn't be the first time that two companies who are struggling partner up to see if something magical will happen together that didn't happen separately.

And this attempt to try a post as if from an interested contributor that's written in the same marketing doublespeak as the press release is a very bad idea. Trust lost is hard to win back.

Modified to add some links to stories about this company.

http://www.fool.com.au/2015/04/27/is-newzulu-ltd-a-next-gen-disruptor/

PieNetworks acquired NewZulu last August and changed its name to NewZulu

http://www.pienetworks.com/

Then NewZulu made an acquisition "...to help it crack the US" - has anyone heard of Filemobile?

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/australian-startup-newzulu-just-paid-5-million-for-content-marketer-filemobile-to-help-it-crack-the-us-2015-2

http://www.startupdaily.net/2015/02/australian-startup-newzulu-closes-11-5-million-funding-round/

They seem to be acquiring a ton of domain names (search NewZulu and you'll see them) including BoomZulu

http://www.boomzulu.com/

What I haven't seen to date (but will now look out for) is any media outlet actually using any of these images or videos...has anyone seen an uses?

This sounds a lot like all the Silicon Valley startups - piles of breathless prose and investors pumping in money by the bucketload but no real clear traction as a business.

One last edit: A profile of the guy running this company

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/alex-hartman-from-teen-entrepreneur-to-head-of-a-global-media-company-2014-10