Who Makes the News? You do.

by Mark Evans on March 17th, 2007

A few days ago, I wrote a blog post about how I was going to start profiling Canadian blogs given the dearth of Web 2.0 start-ups in Canada. Lo and behold, a flurry of start-ups hit my comments. So here’s one of them: Newsbyu.ca, which is a Digg-like news/social bookmarking currently in beta. It was created by Gareth Cull, who I managed to snag for a mini-Q&A.

Q: How long NewsbyU has been around?
A: It’s been up now for just over 2 months. It’s still in Beta mode. But the idea was established last year, and I’ve been working very hard in my spare time to start this up.

Q: Why did you decide to create it?
I am inspired. Something very special is happening on the Internet at this moment in time and I have developed this drive to inform people as to what it is and what it represents. The Internet is evolving and connecting people on a scale never before seen in human history. New business models are forming to harness this newfound collective intelligence of the masses. This collective wisdom of the crowds represents innovation in its purest form and it is empowering people. This excites and inspires me. The source of my inspiration can found in a number of individuals. These people include: Jimmy Wales - founder of Wikipedia, Kevin Rose - founder of Digg.com, Larry Page and Sergey Brin - the geniuses behind Google, and Don Tapscott & Anthony D. Williams - Author of Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything.

I want to mash these ideas together and try to create something new. Something open and transparent. Something different, exciting and good. I believe that the Internet is being given a bit of a bad wrap these days. Sure, there is lots of bad stuff out there, but there is also a lot of good. People who want to change things for the better. I care about what is going on in the world today and I want to build a community based on trust, respect and openness. The Internet gives me this sense of hope that things will get better. Maybe I’m an optimist, but I believe in people and that we can accomplish anything when we work together, and the idea of mass collaboration is inspiring.

3. How are you going to get people to check out?
I’m actually a marketing consultant and webmaster for a firm here in Toronto. I’m just doing this in my spare time. I’m currently marketing my website using Google AdWords. I also plan on writing articles on my blog, discussing topics such as web 2.0, sports, and technology. I plan on posting these articles on various websites like digg. I would also like to do some grassroots stuff too and create some sharing tools.

4, What’s the business model?
What you are seeing is the very beginning of what I would like to do. I want to embrace the principles I learned in Wikinomics to the fullest possible extent. I consider myself a people person first and Internet guy second. My business model revolves around people, technology and openness. Think of this website as an engine. I like to call it “a people powered news engine.” It is a generator of traffic in a similar manner as Google News, but it is also a means of connecting people with interesting articles they find in the public domain. Our users have the ability them to discuss and vote on these submitted articles with the most popular articles drifting to the top, and those with the least popularity sinking to the bottom.

As for the content posted on NewsByU, it is entirely user generated and is licensed under the Creative Commons. As of right now, I am currently generating revenue through my Google Ads and will be adding additional revenue sources in the future. My message is simple. If people share with me, I will share with them. I want to do something positive and give back to this community. I plan to share revenue when I figure out the model, but it will most likely be similar to the Digital Journal’s. Sharing is good! Sharing is the future, as is the Creative Commons.

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