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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Editor’s Note: Encyclo has not been regularly updated since August 2014, so information posted here is likely to be out of date and may be no longer accurate.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:

Oct. 4, 2023 / Joshua Benton

If Google suddenly had real competition in search, how would news publishers’ world change? — Google’s on trial in Washington, D.C. Not metaphorically, either: A federal court is almost halfway through what’s expected to be 10 weeks of testimony on whether Google’s search dominance is a violatio...

Oct. 4, 2023 / Sarah Scire

The Messenger signs a deal to “eliminate bias” and flag “clickbait” with AI — What counts as clickbait? Merriam-Webster’s definition is “something (such as a headline) designed to make readers want to click on a hyperlink especially when the link leads to content of dubious value or in...

Oct. 3, 2023 / Sophie Culpepper

Aiming for 500,000 subscribers by 2026, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution takes a big swing on growth — Many local publications have cut costs this year. But The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is dreaming big. The legacy media company is looking to grow its roughly 60,000 digital subscribers to 500,000 by the end of 2026. Pu...

Oct. 3, 2023 / Hanaa' Tameez

“Don’t fight the future”: Taylor Lorenz on news publishers’ (continuing) adjustment to the internet — In 2017, Taylor Lorenz predicted for Nieman Lab that selfie journalism would become “a thing.” She wrote that even though social media made it easy for journalists to find information and sources without leaving thei...

Oct. 2, 2023 / Sarah Scire

The Wall Street Journal debuts a new podcast with investing news for “Joe Sixpack” — The Wall Street Journal is adding to its stable of podcasts with a new weekly show aimed at listeners who invest. The goal? To make investing feel accessible and fun in the same way that following sports or fantasy leagu...

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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