Our goal has always been to help readers discover the most interesting, relevant content. As brands are beginning to think like publishers, they are creating tons of valuable and interesting content as well. We’ve recently started working with brands to help them find readers who will appreciate their content, which is why you may have noticed a few ‘promoted stories’ in your feed lately. Several questions have popped up related to our sponsored content program from users, so we thought an explanation would be useful. We want to make it clear that our first priority is to continue to give […]

Recently GigaOm reported that Josh Marshall of the political blog network Talking Points Memo pulled his site’s feeds from both Google Currents and Flipboard. Marshall’s reasoning? In his mind, the services are “scams against publishers.” TPM also pulled their services from our service for the same reasoning. As CEO of News360, I have a few thoughts I’d like to share on this topic. I think that it’s not a question of whether aggregators can bring new readers – they can, and if structured well that can open up opportunities for publishers (think of it like apps  and the app store […]

The world has been a buzz with iOS 7 lately, but we don’t want our Android users to think we’ve forgotten about you. We’ve been hard at work to bring about an even better News360 experience on your Android device, which as always is available for free download from Google Play. What new features do you have to look forward to? We thought you’d never ask! New setup process for new users that places more emphasis on learning from your social accounts Ability to mute sources you don’t want to see in your feed New adaptive sharing mechanism that learns […]

More and more companies are investing resources into branded content.  Are you?  If so, why?  If your answer solely involves selling your company or product to consumers, chances are you’re not seeing much engagement in return. Believe it or not, the number one goal of your content marketing campaign shouldn’t be to sell. Sales will come in time (think ‘Field of Dreams’: build it and they will come), but the overall aim of your campaign should be to build an emotional connection with your consumers. The Content Marketing Institute sums it up well: “The emotion that a brand evokes in […]

When looking at the native advertising game, it’s clear that Buzzfeed has stepped up as a major player in the space. From consistently engaging campaigns to impressive visitor numbers, Buzzfeed’s success seems to be a justification for their premium-rate pricing, as explored in a recently released progress report. But can their success last? Is their enviably-high pricing a bubble that’s waiting to burst? Benjy Boxer takes a look at what Buzzfeed’s breakdown means for the future of the company, and for native advertising publishers in general. Why is Buzzfeed such a powerful example? Based on revenue alone, Buzzfeed is poised […]

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past week or so, you know that today is a big day — the public release of iOS 7. However, some of you may not realize that this release is not just a momentous occasion for Apple, but for the tech world as a whole. How so, you ask? iOS 7 will mark the largest software update ever. Forbes estimated tens of millions of users will download the new iOS system for the iPhone or iPad this morning. The brains behind the new operating system, Apple’s chief designer Jony Ive said, […]

Last year, we unveiled the fully personalized mobile News360 application, which was met with open arms by more than 4 million of you. Today, we are pleased to bring our intelligent news discovery experience to the web. News360.com, the web version of our app, has been completely rebuilt with a sleek new interface that’s specifically designed for desktop browsing with an image-heavy, seamless browsing experience. It’s the same advanced personalization and discovery you know and love in the mobile app now in your browsers. You can also sync your News360 accounts with via mobile device so you can pick up […]

If you’re in content marketing or advertising, you know that native advertising is top of mind for everyone right now. Even companies who aren’t currently doing native advertising recognize that it’s probably the way of the future. So that begs the question, why isn’t everybody doing it? The obvious answer is that it’s still very new. But that in itself isn’t an obstacle to rapid adoption. The truth is, many of the parameters are as of yet undefined and as exciting as everyone thinks native advertising is, it’s still a novel concept. For some, there are logistical obstacles that pose […]

There’s no doubt in our minds that advertising has taken a decidedly exciting turn in the past few years. From creative, metrics-backed campaigns that specifically target individuals to editorially rich native advertising initiatives, marketers have been taking cues from publishers, and creating engaging content that actually appeals to their target demographics. In addition to the fact that this kind of content is infinitely more interesting to create, the blend of editorial quality and marketing strategy works. It works so well that we’re starting to see the reverse, too — publishers are taking cues from advertisers, and injecting marketing strategy into […]

If you’ve ever been in the position of asking for more budget for a content marketing campaign, you might have heard something like this: “Sounds interesting. But what’s it going to get me? How do we know it’s valuable?” In other words, what’s the ROI? It’s what all marketers are trying to prove, but for content marketers, the criteria are slightly different.  The valuable metrics are different from those of a traditional advertising campaigns. That’s because editorial-based sponsored content is as much about implanting an idea, and engaging a consumer in that moment, as it is about driving clicks and, […]