Plain and simple

Social news site/blogging platform Newsvine has agreed to bow to an acquisition attempt by MSNBC, reports The New York Times.

The purchase is the first made by MSNBC, the online and cable news division of NBC, in its 11 years of operation.

The news organization plans to maintain the Newsvine brand, opting with time to integrate a few of its social aspects into the MSNBC.com site.

By tapping into the citizen journalism demographic supported by Newsvine, MSNBC could beat major wire services to breaking news online.

Newsvine was founded a year and a half ago by Mike Davidson. It allows users to earmark news they wish to share with others, and write blog posts. Community members are also scored based on what they share.
The service currently boasts about one million users a month, a fraction of MSNBC's audience size. MSNBC likely sees the purchase as an effective way to boost the community engagement factor around its stories.