Keep Scrolling!

How does a platform, such as Yahoo or Apple, get you to keep coming back to their app for the news? Colors, bolded words, layout, and stories that pander to your history all play a big part. I examine the Yahoo and Apple newsfeed apps on my phone to take a closer look. Looking at the Yahoo app, it opens with top news stories, anything from political news to a story about snow in Los Angeles. As I continue to scroll, there are stories with interesting headlines, such as “20 A-Listers With A History Not Many People Know.” But right under it I see the word “Sponsored”, which essentially means it is an ad that is reeling the reader in with a headline, and is always a hassle once one clicks. For some reason they get me every time! Across the top of the app, there are more tabs that include: Top Videos, Originals, and Trending. Overall, the Yahoo app is user friendly and highlights the top stories across the nation. Looking at my Apple app for news, right off the bat, it gives me the option to “Personalize Your News”, allowing me to browse channels and topics that are of most interest to me. Right below that are the top stories, the same stories that were under Yahoo’s top stories section. If I continue to scroll, I see Trending Stories, Top Videos, and then a section called “FOR YOU”, based on my past reads. I like that on the Apple app if you keep scrolling, they’ve broke the news down into sections: politics, sports, entertainment, technology, and business, among others. On the bottom of the app, it has a place to search and save news. The two apps are pretty similar, but I like Apple’s ease of searching and saving news stories. [1 image, 2 links, 4 quotes, 303 words]