For users close to an incident, a "record" button appears on screen to allow live-streaming. Users are not paid for videos, "nor are videos gamified with rankings or 'likes'." By March 2019, around 100,000 live videos had been recorded using the app. "The New York Times" reported that Citizen footage was provided to television stations for free, with more than 100 of those videos being used on local news broadcasts on a weekly basis. The company has employees who screen 911 communications according to a set of company policies, with the main criteria for inclusion being that the information "needs to pose a public safety concern." The operations team includes analysts with backgrounds in writing and public safety, for example journalists and former first responders, who are "trained to make on-the-fly decisions about what goes into the app based on complex criteria." Some selected alerts are for non-emergencies, such as large crowds or blocked-off streets. Incidents such as suspicious persons, commercial burglaries, minor car collisions, and medical issues are not included. According to "CNN" in March 2019, Citizen was differentiated from similar apps through the speed and volume of its text updates, making it "closer in spirit to police scanner apps." The app was reportedly faster at breaking stories than local news or Twitter by around 10 to 20 minutes.