Apple on the “Radical” Use of Humans to Edit the News
This is an interesting look at how Apple News approaches curating their product, which reaches 90 million people. Unlike other algorithm-focused Silicon Valley giants, Apple uses human editors to surface news stories. They layer those hand-picked stories, some of which will get a million views each, with trending and topic-based stories via algorithm.
Apple (surprisingly) gave access to their News editor in chief, Lauren Kern, who weighs accuracy above speed.
Some publishers remain concerned with Apple News’ future, particularly because of Apple’s ad revenue policies. For one, readers on Apple News stay inside of Apple’s app for the most part, curbing ad revenue for the publisher of the article and limiting data from direct clicks to the sites. While publishers can sell ads on their stories in Apple News, most say the process is complicated and that advertiser interest was low because of the lack of consumer data.
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All the more surprising given how much click-bait style articles Apple News recommends to me. I certainly give them credit for neutrality but it’s a surprise when just a slight scroll down the tech section and I get “Google Pixel 3: Five Reasons Its Design Feels Bpetter Than Apple iPhone” from a publication that may we’ll be called ‘Inverse’ (it’s hard to tell with their clever header design;)
