Scoop set to serve up breaking news with social media data mining

A new service which aims to harness the power of social media to provide journalists, financiers and sports fans with an invaluable 'glimpse into the future' is officially unveiled today (Monday 10 October). Scoop Analytics, a spinout from the University of Glasgow, offers subscribers access to the outputs from their custom-built newsgathering algorithm, which scours social media to identify breaking news before it's reported through official news channels. Overview of Scoop Analytics The advance warning that Scoop provides could help journalists to get the inside track on news from around the world; financial traders to access market information before it reaches the wider public; and sports fans to find out about leaked manager or player transfer news ahead of bookmakers. One recent Scoop from the service identified social media chatter about the Central Italy earthquake on August 24, which hit at 2:39 in the morning. Scoop's algorithm identified numerous social media posts from local people on the scene, and Scoop informed subscribers about the event at 2:44am. By contrast, the first news sources to tweet about the earthquake were Russia Today and BBC News, which tweeted at 3am and 3:01am respectively. Scoop Analytics is the creation of Dr Phil McParlane and James McMinn, both of whom studied at postgraduate level at the University of Glasgow's School of Computing Science, and the University's Professor Joemon Jose.