A group of entrepreneurs based at the Harvard iLab has launched a news-ranking mobile app using an algorithm that tracks online stories based on importance and traction on social media.
BriefMe, a Boston company created by Max Campion, Hari Ganesan, and Rachel Moranis, launched the product on the Apple App Store on Tuesday after months of beta-testing.
BriefMe is similar to websites such as Reddit and Hacker News, which compile and organize stories based on popularity. But those services depend on the preferences of their own users — not the broader world of social media — to rank news items. Yahoo’s News Digest ranks news twice daily but only looks at a limited number of stories it selects.
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“It’s such an ephemeral space, and there is such a need to be able to see what the world is reading now,” said Campion, chief executive of BriefMe.
BriefMe doesn’t just rank the most poignant or important stories of the day overall. It also breaks stories down in categories such as politics, business, and sports.
“In addition to ranking news on a one through 10 scale, we also give a score, between one and 100, on how ‘hot’ an article is in real-time,” said Campion.