Xinhua, AP to cooperate in social media

BEIJING, March 30- China's Xinhua and The Associated Press (AP) of the United States, the world's two leading news agencies, have agreed to strengthen cooperation in social media.

To deal with the challenges of a transforming media environment, Xinhua laid eyes on social media where traditional news outlets are losing competitiveness, Xinhua President Cai Mingzhao told his AP counterpart, Gary Pruitt, on Friday.

Xinhua has been turning out new-media products integrating text, photo and video, on various platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to meet the new demands of its clients, Cai said.

Pruitt, after touring Xinhua's newly established Social Media Operation Center, said he was impressed by Xinhua's input in this sphere.

Pruitt said his news agency also attaches great importance to social media, and that Xinhua and the AP should share what they do.

Xinhua officially unveiled its global social media presence on March 1, after rebranding its Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts under the unified name "New China."

As of Monday, its Facebook account got 928,692 "likes" while 1,496,998 people followed Xinhua on Twitter. Its YouTube account attracted 48,807 "views."