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SAM Launches News-Gathering Platform for Tweets, Instagrams and User-Generated Content(Marketwire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) EDMONTON, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 07/10/14 -- SAM, the latest startup emerging from Edmonton's burgeoning technology scene, has launched a social media platform for journalists and newsrooms. Aimed at making sense of the increasingly complex social media workflows that journalists and newsrooms face, SAM's unique approach has been built entirely for sourcing, processing and managing social media content. A complete enterprise-ready content management system (CMS), SAM takes the existing workflows that media companies have refined over decades and integrates them into one simple cloud-based platform. Users can curate content into a central SAM Story and share it with colleagues in a safe, internal workspace. Once content has been added to a SAM Story, users can add tags such as 'verified', 'fake', 'approved', or 'cleared'. They can also add notes, corroborating facts, or links to user approvals. SAM streamlines these processes in a fully customizable way, whether the coverage is sports, finance, or entertainment news. "There is a new human reflex to capture and document absolutely everything that happens around us. This reflex is creating an ocean of content that is fully accessible to journalists and media companies," explains SAM CEO and Founder, James A. Neufeld. "Despite being almost entirely open and accessible; searching, processing, and managing this user-generated information remains incredibly difficult. That is why we built SAM and why, during beta testing, our customer base has steadily grown. We are extremely pleased to have some of the world's largest news outlets from both the UK and the U.S. using our platform." According to recent studies, 96% of all journalists in the United Kingdom(1) say they use social media daily, and more than 78% of U.S. based journalists(2) use social media to check for breaking news. SAM allows journalists to quickly and easily search across multiple social media networks for raw stories; by providing filters that allow users to be incredibly granular with their search terms. This granularity can be based on specific terms, locations, and media types, or whether the uploader has been verified by Twitter or Facebook. For media brands and newsrooms, finding breaking news or supporting user-generated content is often just the beginning. There is an entirely backend process most viewers and readers never see, which is the verification, clearing and processing of content. "At SAM, we believe this to be one of the most important tasks for the modern journalist - to quickly distill fact from fiction in the fastest news cycles we've ever had," says Neufeld. SAM has received financial backing from the Accelerate Fund, an early-stage Angel co-investment fund managed by AVAC Ltd. The deal also includes investors from VA Angels, Bruce Johnson, and other prominent local and international Angel Investors. (1) Source: Cision Social Journalism Study 2013 United Kingdom (2) Source: Indiana University School of Journalism report: https://www.proactivereport.com/pr/how-journalists-use-social-media-to-report-the-news/ About SAM SAM is an Edmonton, Alberta based company that provides social media search and curation tools to Newsrooms, Broadcasters and Media Brands. Launched in Summer 2014, SAM is increasingly helping the media industry streamline their social media workflows. Contacts: Media Inquiries James A. Neufeld CEO and Founder, SAM 1(780)940.0568 [email protected] Source: SAM |