Metro International, publisher of the free daily newspaper availible in over 100 cities across the world, has signed a co-operation deal with Scoopshot, a Helsinki-based news photo crowdsourcing service. This deal will allow readers to capture and sell their photos to Metro using Scoopshot’s iPhone and Android apps. Scoopshot is owned by Helsink-based P2S Media Group.
“Metro is an ideal partner for us as we expand our service globally,” says Niko Ruokosuo, CEO of P2S Media Group in a press release. “With the size and brand of Metro, we can prove the benefits of crowdsourcing and mobile photo content creation on a large scale.”
The strategic advantage of employing a photo crowdsourcing platform is to find new efficient ways to find and produce content. By gathering in formation from its readers, Metro can be in more places at the same time and still be more cost effective compared to sending a photographer out to a location. As Ruokosuo says: “We believe that crowdsourcing photography can solve many of the problems media currently face and even more: it allows people to earn money for the news photos they capture but still retain their intellectual property rights.”
Scoopshot has been used by Finnish media and directory companies in Finland since February 2011, with 6,000 users and 64,000 pictures sold. A journalist viewing Scoopshot can see a photo-stream or map or pictures taken in the last 48 hours. The service will also allow Metro to send out location-based assignments to users.
Metro claims to be the world’s largest global newspaper, and plans to bring the service first to Sweden and Denmark. If the service is scaled to Metro’s 100 cities and 17 million daily readers, its exciting to think how it may increase the speed and coverage of eyewitness reporting across the world.
