Last year, I wanted to get better at keeping up with the news. I primarily relied on social media, letting the algorithms determine what stories I consumed. Whenever I opened traditional news platforms, the articles were lengthy and it was far too time consuming to read 1000+ word articles for every major story. After asking around, I realized many of my peers had this same problem, and the idea for Newsi was born–A platform that caters toward the media consumption habits of young people, providing short, reliable summaries in a scrollable, social media like format.

Newsi aims to transform the way we consume news. Today, over 40% of Americans regularly get their news from social media, according to the Pew Research Center, and a Tufts University study found that 4 in 5 young people rely on social platforms as their main source of information. This is an issue, as misinformation and biased reporting run rampant on social media. Algorithms trap users in a loop that reinforces biases and deepens polarization. With Newsi, we want to combat this. Our goal is to provide just the facts, in a way that is as unbiased as possible. Stories are published throughout the day in a feed that feels familiar, inspired by platforms like Instagram and TikTok, but each summary can be read in just 20 seconds or less.

In the future, we hope to incorporate more user discussion–a trait of social media that we would like to emulate. Interpersonal discussion is a huge step toward mutual understanding and lessening divides. We also are working on a mobile app that will make Newsi even easier to use, and we hope to publish that soon.