Financial Times launches Twitter-like fastFT service
The Financial Times launched its new fastFT online service on Wednesday, which aims to provide breaking marketing news across desktop, laptop, tablet and smartphone.
Launch: The new service provides breaking news
The 24-hour service will be operated by eight staff based across London, New York and Hong Kong and will stick to the FT's metered model, allowing users to access eight free updates before a requirement to subscribe to the service.
The service will more Twitter-like, with "short, sharp and informed dispatches" and a rolling format which displays the most recent update at the top.
Chief correspondent for fastFT, Megan Murphy, said: "In an increasingly crowded news marketplace, fastFT will help FT readers sift out the noise, giving them the news they need, when they need it most.
"It goes beyond the headlines, providing context and commentary in quick, authoritative reports."
Co-founder of FT Labs, which led the product development, Andrew Betts, added: "The ever increasing diversity in the way that our readers want to consume our content has created a demand for short, highly portable content that can be rapidly published in virtually any media channel or platform in its full original form.
"fastFT is the visible tip of a new real time, platform agnostic publishing system that represents a step forward in creating an environment optimised for all news consumers, whichever device they choose to read us on, and wherever they happen to be."