Former internet giant Yahoo has turned its official Android app into the new Yahoo Newsroom. The re-branded and refurnished application presents a personalized news feed with over 200 categories of topics, referred to as "Vibes", and lets users search and engage with the kind of news that they are interested in. They are able to participate in discussions, share their reactions, and re-post articles and videos from all over the web.
The news feed serves top stories from established sources such as WSJ, Buzzfeed, NPR, Bloomberg, and many others. The message board element incorporated in the app lets users post articles from the web to the respective Vibe and initiate a discussion on the matter. Thanks to the personalization algorithm, people with shared interests are expected to notice these posts and engage with their reactions. The app also features personalized alerts for news and conversations that users find relevant.
While Yahoo has dished out a competent app for its regular readership, it remains to be seen whether the app can carve a relevant niche for itself among the many news apps available in the Play Store. Yahoo Newsroom does have the advantage of carrying the Yahoo brand, though, and the many users to whom this brand matters aren't likely to miss out on it. But the curious absence of an iOS version, at least for the time being, doesn't do the app any favors.
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