Liveblogging platform Liveblog Pro launches

Liveblog Pro, a new liveblogging platform, has today launched in public beta.

The platform was originally called Ocqur, and has been created by recent journalism graduate Joseph Stashko and students Jonathan Frost and Andrew Fairbairn.

As regular livebloggers, Stashko and Frost designed a platform they would want to use, plus were guided by testers, including journalists from the Guardian, Trinity Mirror and The Times.

Liveblog Pro has been built by Fairbairn, a computer science undergraduate at the University of York.

In a release, the founders said that they focussed on what journalists want from a liveblogging tool, "and our conclusion was that simplicity was key to building something that people would actually use."

"Liveblog Pro was built with journalists in mind, making it as simple as possible. You don’t have to jump through hoops to set up a liveblog, and it’s ridiculously easy to start publishing."

Politics Home was the platform's first commercial partner, using Liveblog Pro to cover Prime Minister's Questions and other events. The platform was also used by Columbia Journalism Review to cover US election night.

Liveblog Pro, which joins existing liveblogging plaforms such as CoverItLive and ScribbleLive, is free to use for individuals, with a paid-for service offering multiple users, white-labelling and SEO-friendly embeds. Prices are set "competitively" based on the features the organisation wants to use, Frost told Journalism.co.uk.

Features include: "Social media embedding with over 10 popular services, without the need for code; a clean front end for readers; multiple authors; local uploads; an easy to use mobile site."

In the release, Frost states that one of his favourite features "is the ability to paste links to social media items to the post area".

“It really takes the stress out of having to create multimedia content, and there's no need to know or manipulate any code.”

The founders say the platform will continue to be developed, with new functionality added.

"Next we're going to look at liveblog filtering and allowing readers to customise their experience, and at the problem of context, which is always an issue with live news."

Free daily newsletter

If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).