Geofeedia, a location-based social media monitoring platform, is being used by journalists to locate real-time photos and tweets where news breaks. Contrary to normal news situations, reporters usually rely on text searches like names of places, keywords, and hashtags. An issue with this is that it's time consuming and you have to sort through all the conversations from people who aren't at the scene.
With Geofeedia, it enables location-based searches for social media content. The app will work through social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram, Picasa, Flickr, and YouTube to find the latest geotagged content.
Phil Harris, CEO of Geofeedia stated:
"Most news happens at a location. Filtering through an unbelievable number of social media posts, it's daunting."
The tool offers potential for journalists trying to verify breaking news story. If you hear a report of a fire, Geofeedia allows you to enter the address to see the images, videos, and tweets being shared. This gives you a real-time update of what exactly is happening at the site.
With a steep pricing system at $1,450 a month for five users, the company is allowing free trials. Harris wants users to realize the value of the application, despite the price tag. He also describes it as a form of "business intelligence," helping editors make decisions about whether they can cover stories and how they can do it.
Reporters can use Geofeedia to gauge how big a story is so they can determine whether or not they can send a reporter. The reporter can go to a specific site with a high volume of tweets instead of sending someone to a general area. Even before getting to the scene, Geofeedia can use tweets and photos to contact eyewitnesses before their reporters even arrive there.
Geofeedia is a tool that tries to help journalists solve the problem of finding the scene and verifying its' legitimacy. Though verification still poses as a problem, the company does its best to provide help with find the source and giving second-by-second reporting.