YouCheck, the "Linkedin" for journalists and reporters

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

Journalists are using a new social network where they look for sources and find stories. In addition, the platform contributes to the fight against misinformation in the digital age.

The digitalization of the journalistic profession and the use of social networks is part of the daily life of many journalists, but until now there has not been a platform exclusively dedicated to journalists and communication professionals.

Lorenzo Marini, a communication expert, realized that there was no social network dedicated to journalists finding sources and establishing relationships with them. That is why, together with two partners, launched the first version of YouCheck in November of 2018.

The objective of the platform has been to facilitate contact and communication between journalists and sources. Journalists ask a question with the intention of finding experts for their articles and thus ensure a better quality of information. In addition, it is a way for journalists to expand their agenda of sources.

The interest in this new platform was such that within a few months the team went to work from the offices of the Collegi de Periodistes. Now, after having been used in important newsrooms such as El País or La Vanguardia, they will launch a new version with more interactive options. In this way, it will become a platform dedicated to building relationships between journalists, sources and public relations professionals.

Lorenzo's concern is to use technology to fight for better information in the digital age. Therefore, the other project that has launched with five other journalists is Verificat, a platform against fake news in the Catalan field.

“Beyond deliberately fabricated fake news, much of the problem of bad information in the digital age is due to lack of time and resources and the crisis of the media business model. That's why we decided to develop services that help journalists for free,” Lorenzo explains.

The business model of the new YouCheck is to offer media relations management software to universities and communication departments. Thus, experts from the academic or private sector, as well as public relations agencies interested in collaborating with the media, participate in the YouCheck network.

"The participation of expert sources and academia is essential to stop the dissemination of information at a time when thousands of articles are produced daily that compete for visibility," says the founder of the platform.

Now the new YouCheck aims to be the social network where journalists can find quality sources for their articles, discover stories, receive proposals for topics and expand their own contacts agenda.

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

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