Testing New Sqoop Channel for Business News

Today Sqoop gives journalists information about businesses from SEC filings, patent applications and grants, and federal court records. Knowing that there are certain companies and sectors you’re interested in hearing from, today we’ll begin testing a new source of news tips: the businesses themselves.

Update 2016-9-30: News Maker is now live.

Update 2017-2-6: Its name is News Maker.

News Maker is a new way for you to get updates and announcements directly from the businesses and sectors you care about. Here’s how it works:

• Businesses start by answering a few interview questions on Sqoop’s new story creation tool. Our aim is to surface the information you care about, and conduct much of the reporting leg-work for you.
• Sqoop then attempts to match that story with reporters who may be interested in this news by using information we know about you, e.g., what publication you work for, geographic location, and your areas of interest like wearable technology or autonomous vehicles.
• You’ll see this information included in your Sqoop search results and the alert emails you already receive. Our goal is to surface this information at a time when you’re actually looking for news.

Just as importantly, here’s what we won’t do:

• These company-submitted stories will be curated and sent only to reporters who we think will legitimately care about that specific piece of news. We will not be spamming reporters: you get enough of that already from the PR industry.
• We will not be sharing your personal information. Sqoop is a journalist-first organization and as such we will safeguard your privacy. You can read more about that here, including the protections afforded to you as a journalist when using Sqoop under the State of Washington’s Shield Law.

News Maker is a service companies pay us for. This represents Sqoop’s first revenue opportunity, and we intend to use the funds to support our existing data journalism efforts as well as expand the number of data sources and tools we provide for you, including Trademarks, the FCC, the FDA and a long list of domestic and international sources you’ve asked us for (tell us what sources you want by emailing me).

As we roll out this service over the next month or so, we’ll be requiring journalists to register and to be verified so that we can ensure others are not privy to the same information as you. At the same time, we’ll offer non-journalists a paid-for option.

Most importantly, we want to give you company announcements and information that falls within your areas of interest and that you’d consider covering. Our goal is to offer company-submitted stories that get more and more relevant to you over time as our matching algorithm gets smarter. Part of that will be feedback tools we’ll give you so that you gain more control over what you see and when you see it.

Please let us know what you think by emailing me directly bill@sqoop.com. Thank you!