Instagram co-founders release new social app for news reading

Artifact, though not open to the public yet, will personalize news stories according to interests and preferences

Instagram’s co-founders, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, have built a new social app called Artifact for a personalized reading experience.

Still, in its beta stage, Artifact isn't open to the public yet and only lets users write themselves up on a waitlist when the application is launched. The Verge reported that the app seemed to be a modern Google Reader, a newsreader app that was shut down in 2013.

Artifact uses machine learning to personalize the experience for the end user with social elements that allow users to discuss articles they come across with friends. A curated selection of news stories would be presented to new users, and the app will adapt to user interest and present more accurate news pieces.

The app will feature options like comment controls, separate feeds for articles posted by people you follow alongside their commentary and a direct message inbox for discussing posts more privately. Artifact will consist of popular articles chosen from a curated list of publishers ranging from leading news organizations like The New York Times to small-scale blogs about niche topics.

Systrom said that beta users were testing two more features of the app, a feed showing articles posted by users that you have chosen to follow, along with their commentary on those posts. The app intends to promote and publish news posts that are not only authentic and verified