Is the new Quartz news app really innovative?
Messengers are the next platform frontier and it is save to say that peer to peer channels are just going to become increasingly interesting for publishers in 2016 ( — which is why we are experimenting quite a bit with them ourselves as well). So naturally I was quite intrigued by the new Quartz app. It breaks with news app conventions by mimicking the interface of instant messengers. I like the general idea — as an MVP to learn from — but I’m not sure it should be a standalone app.
Playing with it was fun for the first couple of days. Then the novelty quickly wore off. One notices that it was merely a UI decision to use the messenger format. It brings up a news subject and offers background information. I can then decide if I want to know more or not. Which makes it all pull — not push. I almost have to work for the information by answering a prompt every 15 seconds. Interestingly enough, it does not seem to be learning from my preferences.
The content is good. It is comparable to other well done daily brief formats. Which is great, but hardly innovative.
It is missing personalization. The app should learn what interests me. It should understand how many messages I want about certain subjects — and when I want them. Do I want push notifications as news break or aggregated when I actually have the time to read them? Then bring in the fun interactional piece and let me ask for further detailed info. It does not even require real AI, just keyword driven responses.
The Quartz app is fun and it’s a great idea, but why make it an app and not do it via a messenger that everyone has installed already? Why add that extra obstacle? We know that people don’t install many new apps beyond the ten they use every day. Even if installed 3/4 of the users forget about it within three days.
It will be very interesting to see where Quartz is taking this app. My guess is that they move this effort to Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, Line or another messenger service that resides in the dock of the Quartz readers’ smartphone home screen.
