Several years after leaving Facebook in a feud with Mark Zuckerberg, the Instagram co-founders are ready to get back on track with a new product. Is about artifacta mobile app that intends to install itself as a news manager that takes advantage of automatic learning to display content related to the tastes or habits of users. A kind of Google Reader on steroids and with an air of TikTok.
Platformer has posted an interesting first look at the platform created by Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom. The latter was, in fact, the one who provided the main details of the project, which has already opened its waiting list for those interested in trying the application, which will reach both iOS and Android.
Artifact aims to position itself as a new way of consuming articles or news, with a strong social ingredient. Initially, those who access the app will only have access to a feed of “curated content”, coming from both renowned media and blogs dedicated to more specific topics. But the intention is to add functions that expand the reach of the platform. Among them, following other users to see the links they share, or a direct message section to interact privately with other people.
But the component that wants to make Artifact unique is the use of artificial intelligence to suggest new items. According to Systrom, the app will take advantage of machine learning to understand what types of news or publications are the most interesting to users. Thus, as the days go by, it will continue to show similar themes within the news manager, individually personalized, using only algorithms.
Basically, the founders of Instagram want Artifact to be to the consumption of content in text format, what TikTok is to viral videos.
Artifact, a personalized news manager with algorithms
Kevin Systrom explained to Platformer that it was precisely the impact of TikTok that led them to address the strategy around Artifact. A paradigm shift based on algorithms that It came to break the followers system imposed by Facebook, Twitter and Instagramand that seemed unbeatable.
“I saw that change and thought, oh, that’s the future of social media. These graphs are not connected; these graphs that are learned rather than explicitly created. And what was funniest to me was, as I looked around, I wondered: Why isn’t this happening everywhere on social media? Why is Twitter still mostly about following? Why does Facebook do it too?” she explained.
It remains to be seen if Artifact’s proposal generates real interest among the public. And if he survives hype unleashed by ChatGPT, which has put artificial intelligence and machine learning on everyone’s lips.
But beyond the latter, the co-founders of Instagram will have to overcome several other challenges with their new project. First, try to revive the sector of news managers, which for years seems frozen in time. Second, establish a business model that is viable and that, in case of depending on advertising or unlocking paid features, is not extremely invasive for the user experience.
Those who wish to join the Artifact private beta can do so through this link. They only have to share their phone number, through which they will receive the invitation to download the app.