> Personalized relevant news delivered daily. This is been a holy grail since > the beginning of the Internet. I’m skeptical, But I’m glad people are still > trying. > > > https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/mark-little-s-kinzen-news-app-to-launch-in-january-1.3673180?mode=amp > > Mark Little’s Kinzen news app to launch in January > Neva Labs renames as it builds app to ‘create a news routine’ to match daily > lives > > Laura SlatterySun, Oct 21, 2018 > > Mark Little: was an RTÉ journalist and current affairs presenter before > leaving to set up Storyful, which he sold to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp for > €18 million in 2013. He served as an executive at Twitter. > Mark Little’s digital news venture Neva Labs has been renamed Kinzen and is > inviting people to test pre-release versions of its app before its official > launch in January. > > The Dublin-based company, co-founded by Áine Kerr and Paul Watson, aims to > help users “create a news routine that perfectly matches their daily lives”. > > Kinzen will be “a news community shaped by the conscious choices of its > members, rather than the worst instincts of a crowd”, according to the > company, which hopes that users will pay €5 or $5 a month for what it says > will be a better digital news experience. > > “We’re not going to save journalism. Others can promise that,” said Mr > Little, Kinzen’s chief executive. But the app will allow users to control the > technology, rather than the other way round, he said. > > Kinzen, which now employs 12 people, has spent 2018 exploring how Facebook or > Twitter would function for news consumers if it was being built today. > > “If we could go back and do right all the things they have done wrong, what > would that look like?” Mr Little said. > > Users will be prompted to offer feedback on each article drawn from the open > web that they read via the app, but Mr Little said this wouldn’t lead to a > “creepy” system of personalisation or “stalking” used by some apps. > > “The big difference between us and other aggregators is that we don’t go in > for the kind of scary personalisation where we’re going through your browser > history.” > > The app will help people “escape endless scroll”, liberate them “from the > shallow metrics of claps, clicks and likes” and would be free of “hidden > manipulation”, he added. > > Testers will be asked to trial the app from mid-November and participate in > Kinzen’s pre-launch research, while the company will form a “network of > curators” that will “help lead our members toward valued sources and shared > facts on the topics that matter to them”. > > Call for donations > > It is also seeking “patrons” to donate €30/$30 or more to back the company, > in exchange for which they will receive six months access to its subscription > services after they become available in January. > > Kinzen: the logo for the news app company founded by Mark Little, Áine Kerr > and Paul Watson. > Kinzen is otherwise funded by Mr Little himself, technology entrepreneur Ray > Nolan and another private investor. It has support from State agency > Enterprise Ireland and a grant from Google’s Digital News Initiative, which > is being used to develop a Kinzen “plug-in” for publishers that partner with > it. > > The company plans to “build revenue-generating partnerships with publishers > who want to break their dependence on social platforms and advertising > revenue”. Mr Little says he is “excited” by the interest he has received to > date from smaller, local publishers. > > It has also received an investment from the Civil Media Company, a start-up > that aims to bring blockchain technology to journalism. > > In total, some €1.5 million in funding has been raised. Kinzen notes on its > website that none of this has come from venture capital (VC) companies. > > “One of the mistakes that has been made by well-meaning media companies has > been to take on too much VC funding at the beginning,” said Mr Little. This > can lead to “insane targets” for growth or pressure to “flip the company”, he > said, which he does not plan to do. Kinzen might raise VC finance in the > future, he added, but “right now, it is an advantage” to have private > investors. > > “We know as a start-up, things will change. Things will work, things will > fail,” he said. > > Storyful background > > Mr Little was an RTÉ journalist and current affairs presenter before leaving > to set up Storyful, which he sold to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp for €18 > million in 2013. He later served as an executive at Twitter. > > Ms Kerr, the chief operating officer, is a former political journalist who > was managing editor at Storyful and global head of journalism partnerships at > Facebook. Mr Watson is Kinzen’s chief technology officer, a role he > previously held at Storyful. The company’s publisher strategy will be led by > Colin Doody, a former senior business development manager at the Wall Street > Journal. > > The name Kinzen is an amalgamation of “kin” and “zen”. Mr Little said this > reflected the dual nature of the app, with “zen” recalling “citizen” and > “kin” meaning family, suggesting that users will have agency but also be part > of a community. > > “That sounds very existential,” he admitted to The Irish Times. > > Real news has value > > > Sent from my iPhone
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