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Circa

Key links:

Primary website:
cir.ca

Primary Twitter:
@circa

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Editor’s Note: Encyclo has not been regularly updated since August 2014, so information posted here is likely to be out of date and may be no longer accurate. It’s best used as a snapshot of the media landscape at that point in time.

Circa is a mobile-only app for reading news that presents stories as collections of facts from various sources.

For its focus on presenting news the way readers want it on their phones—in short chunks, added to as a story changes—Circa has been hailed as an example of the “post-article” news world. Its minimalist design breaks stories up into pieces easily viewable on a phone screen. Users can follow stories of interest and receive updates as new facts, statistics, or images are added. Circa relies heavily on aggregation while using editors to string together the content.

The app was founded by Cheezburger Network’s Ben Huh and launched in October 2012. It released an updated focused on breaking news a year later.

By June 2013, the company employed 14 people producing 40 to 60 stories every day.

Peers, allies, & competitors:

Summly, Storify, Quartz, Flipboard, Upworthy

Recent Nieman Lab coverage:

Sept. 5, 2024 / Sarah Scire

The Institute for Nonprofit News rejected more than half of newsrooms that applied for membership in 2023 — Here’s a nugget from the Institute for Nonprofit News that might come up as we creep ever closer to the 2024 elections. Only 48% of nonprofit newsrooms that applied for INN membership in 2023 were accepted. Others ...

Sept. 5, 2024 / Hanaa' Tameez

Collaboration helps keep independent journalism alive in Venezuela — It has long been difficult to be a journalist in Venezuela. Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index ranks it 156 out of 180 countries, and more than 400 Venezuelan news outlets have shut down over the last 20 ye...

Sept. 4, 2024 / Sarah Scire

The Salt Lake Tribune, profitable and growing, seeks to rid itself of that “necessary evil” — the paywall — It started when Andy Larsen, sports reporter and data columnist for The Salt Lake Tribune, got annoyed with an “obnoxious” ad on the Tribune’s own site. He brought his frustration about the digital clut...

Sept. 4, 2024 / Myojung Chung

Want to fight misinformation? Teach people how algorithms work — In an era dominated by social media, misinformation has become an all too familiar foe, infiltrating our feeds and sowing seeds of doubt and confusion. With more than half of social media users across 40 countries encoun...

Sept. 3, 2024 / Sophie Culpepper

Most Americans consume at least some local crime news — but TV news watchers probably see the most — When’s the last time you consumed local news about crime, and how did it make you feel? For me, it was last Thursday, after a colleague shared a Boston Globe story about a horrifying development in a horrifying case. T...

All Lab posts on Circa »

Recently around the web, from Mediagazer:

All Mediagazer posts on Circa »

Primary author: Sarah Darville. Main text last updated: June 13, 2014.

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