Cool APP Sharing - Breaking News +Lin Yidan - 1155074708

1. Introduction

According to the screenshot on Apple Store, Breaking News + is a news gathering APP based on NBC Digital. The APP is keeping updating news from time to time, so subscribers can find the latest news easily.

The APP consists of five parts:

• Now: This is where readers find breaking news. There are almost one-sentence-news with the link to its original news source. Users are able to click the link to get further information. There is also some photos and videos attached, users can click the image to get a full-size photo or play a short clip of video.

• As the screenshot, a single piece of news contains five elements except for the content.

TopicAdd to following the topic

Latest update

Mute the topic

Whoa, to show reader’s feeling

• Nearby: This part enables users to get local news. The distance is adjustable to define how far the range of news an individual want to pay special attention.

• Whoa: This part presents some hot media and hot headlines. Users can find the most popular news here.

• Following: This is where users edit their following and muted topics, as well as find out the most trending topics.

• Following: This is where users edit their following and muted topics, as well as find out the most trending topics.

• Me: For personal preferences settings.

2. Best Parts

(1) Unlike news gathering APPs such as Buzzfeed or Pocket, Breaking News + presents news in timeline, the latest news will be shown on the top.

(2) The sources are various from media, social media platforms, officials, organizations, and companies, etc., which ensures large quantity of news will present per minute.

(3) Every news is short to save time for readers, while the links can provide extra information. Users may choose what they like to get further news.

(4) According to following and muting topics, users can focus on certain news easily.

(5) This APP can be functional in Mainland China without using VPN. You get my point.

3. Interesting Practice

In the first two parts of the APP, an earth button is heading on the right corner. After click it, the page will turn to a map with several red circle. Each circle represents a news events happened in that place.

After clicking the red circle, an information bar will tell the user about where the news happened and a brief introduction. Users can also click the blue information button to get further news.

These read circles are changing from time to time as the news being updating.

4. Weak Points

(1) The APP is updating so fast that sometimes users can hardly find the previous news. (recommend to use following topic)

(2) Some sources are not reliable enough for journalists or news organizations, so double check is needed to some degree.

(3) The APP only support English and French, so it only includes some English and French media. So it may be a good APP for Chinese media collecting foreign news, but not as good as native media for getting local information.

(4) Though the APP is able to use without VPN, but some of the links are still limited to Mainland users.

THANK YOU! Cool APP Sharing - Breaking News +

Lin Yidan - 1155074708