Congrats Akber, Basil, Azam, Alex et al.! Important problem, and the app looks great.
What do you see as the hardest part of getting the ecosystem right - getting publishers onboard, getting users to pay, or curating stories in the right way?
@jacobtref Thanks for the question! Definitely some challenges. We get people who scoff at the idea of paying for content, or at the notion that anyone would pay for content at all. But since a particular event in early November, people are realizing that 'fake news', clickbait, fluff pieces etc have to do a lot with incentives - eyeballs and clicks. Since then we're seeing an understanding that subscription models can keep quality content alive. The big papers have seen subscriptions jump, some companies are trying to make subscriptions work, including Medium which just launched their own $4.99/mo plan, while publishers are backing away from things like FB's instant articles.
@kevnguy another great question, thanks. the articles are curated by our in house editorial team based in san francisco and in berlin. we try and give our readers a mix both of stories that are popular and also pieces that they may not have seen anywhere else in their other feeds. Right now we don't have exclusive content from our publishers but our goal is to start having pieces on Discors that you can only find here within the next couple months.
Maker of Discors (you may have read about us: https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/0...) here! I'm excited to show the community here what we've been working on.
We think it's really important to stay well-informed, but reading the most respected publications can be difficult; the best sources are paywalled or metered, and readers want to explore multiple sources which can cause subscription costs to really add up. We were able to bring together news and analysis from some of these publications (incl. NYT, Financial Times, Washington Post, The Economist, Foreign Policy, and some more). Our editorial team selects the best pieces every day to help you better understand what's happening in the world - no ads, no linking out, no in-app-browsers!
Subscribing through the app (Android or iOS) gets you a free week, and its $4.99/mo after that. We would love your feedback and invite you to try Discors! I'll be here off and on today to answer any questions. Thanks!
This is a really great idea.
Can't understate how important it is to get your news from multiple sources... especially now in today's media landscape more than at anytime before.
@sum1tk we have a range of sources on Discors (National Review to Guardian, New York Times to Financial Times for example), and even New York Times is making an effort do diversify its columnist bullpen - recently adding Bret Stephens formerly of WSJ.
and you're totally right - it's always important to read stuff you might disagree with. Thanks for the comment!
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Doesn't Apple News do this? Are there different content sources?
@getbrandflakes great question. the biggest difference between us and Apple News (or any other aggregator out there) is that we're providing access to content that would otherwise only be available via a subscription to the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Economist, etc.
If you see it on Discors, you can read it on Discors. No running into meters, paywalls, and ads when you click a link.
We can do this because we pay our partners a license fee to republish their pieces in their entirety within Discors. We then make that content available to our subscribers within the app. We do also have sources - like the Financial Times - which are currently not available at all on Apple News.
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@basil_enan I see a lot of value here but really wish there was more content. I'm hoping you guys are working on that.
Willing to pay $5 a month to find out.
@getbrandflakes thanks Brandon. we're definitely just getting started. lots more content partnerships coming soon. the more subscribers like you we have, the more content we can bring into the app.
@varna Blendle is pretty neat and tackling a similar problem as us. A couple distinctions I'd like to make:
1. We run pieces from the publications listed in other comments, in addition to a more "newsy" approach to stories. Your feed has those partner pieces, as well as the latest top news on a topic with background cards, images, AND partner pieces. For example, today we have a story about the House's repeal of the ACA; it has the latest AP story on that topic, swipeable background cards, and a whole bunch of articles on the GOP's efforts to repeal the ACA going wayyyy back. In my opinion, Discors can work as a great daily news app and way to get some great journalism that is hard to find elsewhere. Blendle is great for finding pieces you want to read if you already have a solid understanding of what's happened in the news.
2. On Discors, you pay $4.99 a month and get everything we run. On Blendle you fill your account with however much money you want, and pay for each article you read. If I recall correctly, most are around $0.25 a piece, while some are over $1.00. They do make it really easy to get a refund if you're unsatisfied which is cool.
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