Yahoo is making headlines with its latest move: acquiring Artifact, a news recommendation platform created by the minds behind Instagram, Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom. This partnership is set to shake up how we read the news online, as Yahoo taps into Artifact’s smart technology to personalize the news experience for its users.
“We built an intuitive product experience that users love and has the opportunity to benefit millions of people. Yahoo brings the scale to help the product achieve what we envisioned while upholding the belief that connecting people to the trusted sources of news and information is as critical as ever,” said Kevin Systrom, CEO and Co-Founder of Artifact. “AI has allowed us to give users a better experience discovering great content they care about. Yahoo recognizes that opportunity, and we could not be more excited to see what we’ve built live on through Yahoo News.”
Yahoo’s strategic leap into personalized news with Artifact
Yahoo’s recent acquisition of Artifact will combine Yahoo’s large audience with Artifact’s AI technology to:
- Better suggestions: Yahoo might use Artifact’s smart technology to suggest news stories that match what users like. This means you could see more articles and videos that interest you.
- Easier to find content: Artifact’s way of organizing news could make it simpler to find what you’re looking for on Yahoo. It could mean clearer menus and easier ways to navigate through articles.
- Nicer look: Yahoo might make its platform look better by using Artifact’s design ideas. This could include smoother transitions between pages, nicer layouts, and easier-to-use buttons.
- Smarter insights: Artifact’s technology could give Yahoo useful information about what users like to read and watch. This data could help Yahoo show you more of what you want and make its platform better overall.
- Same experience everywhere: Yahoo could use Artifact’s tech to make sure that using Yahoo feels the same across all its different services. This means you’d get personalized recommendations no matter which Yahoo service you’re using.
Despite its promising start, Artifact shut down after a year because it didn’t see enough growth. Want to learn why? The primary reason cited for discontinuing the app was that the market opportunity wasn’t significant enough to justify continued investment.
Despite efforts to innovate and enhance the user experience with features like AI-generated summaries and the ability to mark clickbait articles, the app struggled to gain traction in an oversaturated market. As my experience with the app, Artifact’s decision to limit content to selected publishers was criticized for going against the principles of an open and diverse information ecosystem, leading to user dissatisfaction. Ultimately, Artifact overlooked the importance of providing a platform where users could engage with a variety of perspectives, contributing to its downfall.
However, Yahoo saw potential in Artifact’s technology and decided to acquire it. The exact cost of the acquisition wasn’t disclosed.
The integration of Artifact’s technology into Yahoo’s platforms will happen slowly. While the Artifact app disappears, its smart systems for picking and categorizing news will start showing up in Yahoo News and maybe other Yahoo services, too.
For Yahoo, this means they can offer their millions of users more personalized news recommendations. By using Artifact’s technology, Yahoo hopes to stand out in the crowded world of online news.
Both Yahoo and Artifact are excited about the possibilities this acquisition brings. While Yahoo gets access to cutting-edge technology, Artifact gets a chance to reach a much larger audience. Can they succeed? We have to wait for the answer.
Featured image credit: Yahoo
