App of the week for journalists: Socialcam

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App of the week:

Socialcam

Phones:

iPhone and Android

Cost:

Free

What is it?

A video-sharing app that has had 16 million downloads .

How is it of use to journalists?

Socialcam is being used by various news outlets, including the Washington Post, which is using the app for its London Olympics coverage .

The app got numerous mentions at Friday's

news:rewired - full stream ahead

conference on digital journalism. <img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-46017" height="375" src="?cmd=ShowAsset&amp;assetID=43152&amp;nosurround=true&amp;fakeExtension=.jpg" title="socialcam1" width="250"> <img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-46018" height="375" src="?cmd=ShowAsset&amp;assetID=43153&amp;nosurround=true&amp;fakeExtension=.jpg" title="socialcam" width="250">

The app allows journalists to record and share videos and encourage participation by the Socialcam community. For example, the Washington Post is encouraging people to take videos with suggested topics being "a tour of an Olympic venue, an interview with a Londoner, fan footage of an amazing victory, cultural events in London".

Those who add videos are encouraged to tag them "Washington Post" to alert the news outlet to the submission.

As the name of the app would suggest, one of its strengths is the social aspect, particularly with Facebook sharing, which gives news outlets and journalists yet another way of engaging with the Facebook community.

Have you got a favourite app that you use as a journalist? Fill in this form to nominate an app for Journalism.co.uk’s app of the week for journalists.