There was a time in history when a person had to use the radio or watch television to hear the news. They had to stop what they were doing just to sit down for an hour to find out what was going on around the world.Well today in the 21st century we can simply do this through apps. As someone is taking the train into the City or waiting for their class to start they can simply open their smartphones or Ipads and click on a news app that gives them up to date information.
News companies like CNN that people really rely on for their everyday news understands this change in which people now want to receive their news. In an article for the NewYorkTimes by Brian Stelter titled "CNN Acquires Zite, an Ipad App Company" it explains how CNN is becoming leader when it comes to understanding what the people want when they open the CNN app. I bet your wondering how they are able to understand and study what people want when they open these apps. Well CNN recently purchased a company called Zite which studies articles people read when they open the app and this allows CNN to get an idea of what different articles users are drawn to when it comes to the app.
I decided to take a closer look at exactly what Zite does. In reading an article for the New York Times titled Sorting Out an Avalanche of iPad Apps for the Best of 2011" by Bob Tedeschi it explains how Zite launched an app before being acquired by CNN that allowed users to choose categories that would catch their interests when it came to their news. From the categories chosen Zite then filtered the News to fit the interest of different users. This reason alone is why CNN acquired Zite. They want to bring this feature to their app.
CNN deciding to create more of a presence through their app will not take away from the regular television program. The main goal of this app is to allow people to expose themselves to the type of news they want. It will allow people to interact with the CNN anchors and comment through Twitter. It shows how the digital revolution can change the way in which people get their news. Through this app people can now comment on any article and discuss it amongst their peers, they can tweet a news anchor and they can also filter through different stories instead of having to watch an hour segment to hear about a story that interests them.
On my phone I have the CNN app and I get daily blasts of what news are hot topics. If something about the blast interests me I will then open the app and read the article. The world is changing becoming more digital CNN see’s this. People want to know what’s current and relevant at a faster pace. I barely have time to watch television because I'm always on the go so to have the app on my phone as I’m heading out the door with daily blasts of what’s going in the world is great. It’s a cool way to receive my news.
Aside from CNN becoming a power house when it comes to its advancements in the App world Weather Apps are also a huge deal for anyone who had a smartphone or an Ipad. Since the weather plays a major role in everyone’s lives people use to watch the news sometimes just to catch the weather segment. With apps like the weather channel people now have it on their phones.So they can now tell when the rain will start and when the rain will end. In an article by Josh Sternberg titled "Why David Kenny Forecasts Mobile as Weathers Future" it touches on just how important weather apps are to people. It also explains how the weather channel is the fifth most downloaded app in the world. The weather app was one of the main trendsetters in receiving news in a different format. I think weather apps paved the way for other news apps to be created because it showed that there was a market for it. People want to know their news, regardless if it's the weather or everyday events.
The need for news is never ending. People need to know what is going on around them at all times. So I think it benefits most news companies to invest in creating apps, its a great way to keep the viewers loyal to one news station.