QuickNews Goes Local
Some months ago we embarked on the journey to create QuickNews, the smartest news app in the world. During this journey we’ve developed a state-of-the-art recommender system and brought the most important sources in the world to our users: everything from Reuters, The New York Times, The Guardian, as well as all more targeted publications such as TechCrunch or Vogue. The key phrase here was “in the world” – or rather, global sources, generally in English.
But while there is a critical mass of news junkies interested in global news, there’s feedback we’ve been getting over and over: add local sources. And indeed, it made perfect sense. Though the major global news sources have a a lot of appeal, even the most sophisticated user will be far more interested in what is happening around them. Even yours truly is an avid consumer of the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and National Post in my current location, as well as a great deal of sources from my native Croatia.
THE PARADIGM
The “local news app” paradigm has been gaining a fair bit of steam lately. But most of the apps falling into this category tend to over-localize, focusing the user’s feed to their city and immediate surroundings. We believe that the right way of thinking about this is focusing on smaller countries, many with their own languages, and giving users in those markets their favorite local sources along with our usual global ones. Given this, we will be focusing on Europe, with its numerous languages and funky borders, for our first steps in localization.
PLAN AND SNEAK PREVIEW
The first country is unsurprising giving the team’s provenance: Croatia. Four million people, hence a market not lucrative enough for the big players. All of them news junkies, meaning our dream users. From there we’ll expand rapidly into all the European countries, from the rest of the Balkans, to the Czech Republic and Slovakia, to Poland and the bigger markets like Germany, France and Italy. From there we’ll expand to every country in the world. Now, to give you the taste of the new QuickNews, check out the screenshots below.
And the best thing is that your topic preferences will get applied to the local as well as global feed! So if your interest is technology, you’ll see tech-related coverage from both the global media giants and your local outlets. Same for the mothers of all topics: sports and politics.
THE ROAD AHEAD
As mentioned above, we’ll be expanding into other countries as quickly as humanly possible. And we’d love to hear your thoughts. In particular, if you’re a QuickNews user in non-English speaking countries and would like us to introduce localization for your country, reach out to us in the comment section or at our social profiles and let us know the most important and reputable local sources.
