Labani Biswas
Jul 28, 2017 · 5 min read

Let’s put it this way — a large part of the internet acts like a certain callous princess. All they say sounds like “let them eat cake”. Most publishers are oblivious to our information needs — they just keep putting words and data out there– while we slouch in our seats and keep mumbling “I don’t know what to do with this information” — until the mumbling turns into a frustrated wail in our heads and we feel like flinging our phones down the balcony.

Since the time we learnt to run blasphemous Google searches, to now being caught in the social media chatter, it seems like there’s enough information to smother the 1.8 billion of us. We need super heroes and sheroes who will save us from this imminent disaster, ones who will pull us out while we are drowning in information. If you ask me, we already have someone like that — this one doesn’t wear a cape, he wears spectacles on his nose and heart of the information on his sleeve.

Vox is the solution to Ezra Klein personal frustrations with how news was presented traditionally and that’s exactly what makes it so good. He had three problems with how important information was being published:

a. He felt like top publishers made readers like him feel stupid. As a young and upcoming journalist he could easily understand and relate to only 25% of articles given in traditional outlets.

b. He believed that traditional media lived from news cycle to news cycle — with no real focus on truths that are less time sensitive.

c. As a digital native journalist, he felt like traditional media was not making full use of the abundant technological advancements available at their disposal to best present the information.

Vox was thus conceived — a platform that utilized the best of technology to bring together related information, which when put together makes perfect sense. All Vox wants is to explain the news (or any kind of information) to us — and all of its offerings are geared towards this sole objective.

Here’s how they are showing the world how it’s done:

Nothing called TMI

Raise your hands if reading something online has made you say “am I missing something?” What do you do when you come across information that needs premise for understanding? The sincere ones among us will probably Google the topic and try find the missing links in the story, and the lazy ones (raises hand sheepishly) will grumble about how reading something has just made you feel more ignorant. Well Vox solves this very potent problem for us, they stack topics that are recurring in the public conscious under content format called cards — all information under the content, published by Vox at the same place. Just a mild PSA — don’t try going through a card stack in one go — your brain will feel like it cannot take anything else for the next one week.

Vox Card Stacks — redeeming the uninformed since 2014

Tell me child, what do you want to know?

Isn’t it one of our greatest wishes, that the moment something becomes part of thepopular conversation someone comes and explains the hows and whys of it? Well, our wishes come true with Vox. If you have been on social media in the last couple of years, we are pretty sure you know what we are talking about. From media’s inadequacy in covering Donald Trump to the latest microaggressions in GoT, anything and everything gets explained by Vox and most importantly in language that we all understand & speak in.

Explainers — making rocket science sound easy breezy since 2014

Delivered with care

Digital newsletters suffer from two problems globally:

a. They are mostly content links with a headline. What if someone’s running late for the day and the only time they can check what’s happening around the world is the time they spend in the lift to the parking lot. They would need something smaller, but something that gives the broader picture.

b. There’s information that we need to know, and there’s information that we desperately need to know. Who makes sure that we get those? Who makes sure that we know exactly what’s at stake?

Well, Vox seems to have taken up the mantle here. Two thoughtfully conceived newsletter formats that never let you miss out on stuff that’s important.

Vox Sentences: Ezra Klein wanted it to be the daily reading list for people who want to get caught up but don’t have time to read everything available. The best part is this newsletter contains links from publishers around the web and not just Vox.

The world in sentences

Vox Care: The second newsletter focuses specifically on Healthcare given the erratic climate related to the topic these days in America. It makes sure that it adds value to the inbox of readers who keep asking “what does this mean then?” whenever there’s some development in narrative or policy.

Don’t you worry bout a thing ft Vox

YouTube channel that’s the Ygritte to your Jon Snow

So much to know and so little time — is one thing that you’ll feel every time you visit Vox’s YouTube Channel. There’s no far corner of the earth that the topics haven’t touched and the video’s are so thorough researched that watching them is akin to reading a thesis. It’s safe to say that for information junkies the YouTube channel is Christmas present wrapped in rudolf wrapping paper.

You know nothing unless you’ve been here already

The news industry is well aware of Vox and the scale with which it is disrupting news distribution models. But anyone who is in the business of publishing should sit down and take note. Since your consumer doesn’t differentiate between brands / publishers on the basis of services they offer — it’s imperative that you match up to people who are the best in business across sectors. If you ask us, we’ll say that Vox is here to stay — because they are selling the antidote for curiosity and that will always be viral.

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