Al Jazeera Balkans Launches with Video Streaming, Google+ and a .Me Shortener
Al Jazeera just launched Al Jazeera Balkans, the Southeastern European edition of their 24 hour news channel based in Qatar. The biggest international news competitor to the US-based CNN and UK-based BBC is not only using numerous social networks to broadcast its news, but has also harnesses a unique .Me domain name for even easier sharing of its content over Twitter, Facebook…
From Labs to Live
Al Jazeera Balkans is important to the region which also includes Montenegro, the home of the .Me domain name, because its news reporting supported by its new media and online team whose projects you can find at Al Jazeera Labs. They launched mobile live streaming in early 2010. and have been extensively using web services in covering the Egyptian revolution. We’re not only talking about social networks such as Twitter, but also giving its content away under Creative Commons licensing so more people can use it, share it and build on it.
Al Jazeera Balkans is based in Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina and uses its parent channel’s technological proves as much as possible. They’ve already launched not only a Facebook page and Twitter profile, but also a Google+ page and YouTube channel. While the Twitter channel already has more than 600 followers, the Facebook fan page is also gaining traction fast with more than 2700 fans in less than 24 hours. Both are used mainly as feeds of the news on the main website, where Al Jazeera also streams news live for those who still can’t access their programming via their cable provider.
Stream the News in Southeastern Europe
The regional version of Al Jazeera is also doing something that no channel has managed to do yet: live streaming over YouTube. Like in the rest of the world, YouTube is the most popular video website in Southeastern Europe so it makes sense to use it to broadcast programming. Other regional news channels use custom solutions that in a lot of cases can’t be as easily embedded as YouTube content. Too bad for them, but good for Al Jazeera and the numerous bloggers that are looking forward to support content on the Qatar-based channel that they are looking forward to.
In order to help its content stay branded on the fastest social network out there, Twitter, Al Jazeera uses a custom, unique short domain name: ajb.me. This .Me domain name is used a shortened for all the links they publish on the @AJBalkans Twitter profile.
With Al Jazeera offering a fresh look not only at the news happening in Southeastern Europe, but also in how to use new media in propagating that news, we can expect an escalation in the use of web technologies in the region. Hopefully. Until then, we’ll follow Al Jazeera Balkans on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google+.
