I don’t need to explain the meaning of participatory journalism. With the phenomenal growth of social news sites in recent years, the scope of participatory journalism has been further enhanced.

And I am sure in the coming days; almost all the media organizations would be encouraging participatory journalism where the readers would be the suppliers of news. I can say this in the light of MSNBC’s Newsvine acquisition.

MSNBC has acquired the two years old citizen journalism site, Newsvine for an undisclosed amount. It is the first but major acquisition by the Microsoft and NBC joint venture in its corporate history. Thus, we should except the acquisition would push forward the participatory journalism to a new direction.

Mike Davidson, the CEO of Newsvine has reportedly told that the social news site will be operating as a separate entity despite being claimed by MSNBC.

It means that the Newsvine members will continue to link to their favorite news of the day, submit comments, and write their own stories. So, what benefits could MSNBC derive with this acquisition?

Newsvine registers nearly 1.2 million unique visitors each month due to its interactive features, high quality content and updated news. It is growing at an average of 46 percent per quarter.

The citizen journalism site records more than 80,000 comments in each passing month.

The acquisition would enable MSNBC to attract more readers and advertisers towards the new wave of citizen journalism or participatory journalism.

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