Introducing Artifact, a News App by Instagram Founders
Artifact, created by the minds behind Instagram, was initially designed as a personalized news feed combining articles, facts, and artificial intelligence. Launched in February, the app aimed to provide users with a less addictive news platform compared to other social media apps. In its early days, using Artifact felt similar to Pocket or Apple News, which didn’t quite capture users’ attention.
Artifact’s Social Discussions Feature: Taking Inspiration from Reddit
However, with the introduction of the social discussions feature on April 11, Artifact has started to resemble Reddit more than ever before. This new feature allows users to create profiles, comment on articles, upvote and downvote, and earn a reputation score. These additions could potentially transform Artifact from just a news platform into a full-fledged social media app.
Creating Profiles and Engaging in Conversations
Users must create a profile, requiring a phone number and a display name, to comment on articles. While this may make Artifact more engaging for users, it also opens up a Pandora’s box of moderation issues. To address these concerns, Artifact relies on reputation scores based on upvotes and downvotes on comments, similar to Reddit’s voting system. The reputation score is displayed next to users’ names and profiles and helps determine comment rankings.
AI-assisted Moderation and Community Flagging
Artifact also uses community flagging and AI models to help with moderation. AI models proactively scan for problematic content that doesn’t follow community guidelines, flagging it for review by the human team. This approach aims to ensure a safe and constructive environment for users to engage in conversations around news topics.
Can Artifact Compete with Instagram and TikTok?
While these new features may make Artifact more appealing to everyday users, it’s hard to imagine a news-focused app surpassing the rollercoaster of emotions we experience on Instagram and TikTok. Nevertheless, Artifact’s latest update demonstrates the ongoing evolution of news aggregation apps as they attempt to engage users in a more social, conversational manner.
