Feedly: Feedly first launched in 2008 as a
service intended to organize RSS feeds but, after it became clear that only a small percentage of
Internet users even know what RSS means, the company recently
pivoted into a magazine-inspired app. The design resembles that of a traditional news magazine, yet the content is anything but. A self-described "news reader for creative minds,” Feedly is similar to many social news aggregators in that it imports content from Twitter, Facebook, and Google Reader. What sets it apart, however, is its use of social engagement as a metric to identify trending content that's of particular interest to the user.
Prismatic: Prismatic is a news aggregation and recommendation engine that generates a personal newsfeed filled with wide-ranging news that might otherwise go unnoticed. The app achieves this by basing recommendations on what’s trending across entire social media platforms instead of generating content based on an individual's social networks. Skimming from the top of Twitter instead of zeroing in on a user’s circle ensures that content isn’t limited to what’s found in
the filter bubble. To personalize the experience, Prismatic takes a cue from
Pandora—
through an innovative algorithm, users can respond positively or negatively to articles, determining the kinds of content that will be delivered in the future.
RockMelt: Originally
launched as a web browser,
RockMelt recently went “iPad-first” by introducing a tablet-optimized product that's designed with mobile in mind. The result is a news reading-slash-social networking app that aims to deliver a steady feed of interesting content instead of making users hunt for it. The homepage is a stream of popular websites, saved search terms, and links that have been shared by the user's social network. RockMelt, which has
drawn comparisons to Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter in terms of design, encourages sharing content within the app. Articles can be marked with so-called emoti-actions like “lol,” “wtf," and—sure to be noticed by advertisers—"want."
