Discovering and keeping up with reliable news sources is cumbersome for even the most advanced web users. Feed readers like Feedly are inefficient in their brute force approach of gathering all the posts from all of your subscribed sites without any means of topic based filtering or checking the veracity of the information. While curated news aggregator like Google News and Techmeme sacrifice user control and think on their behalf which makes it difficult to build trust. And generally speaking, validation in the news system has stayed broken since its inception and we have been overwhelmed with news that are not only boring but also plain inaccurate most of the time.
TokCloud is a web application that enables everyone who loves tech to discover news they find interesting through tech experts they trust.
Aggelos Gesoulis and Katerina Limpitsouni are friends and started TokCloud last year in Greece. Aggelos is the developer while Katerina is more focused on user acquisition and researching sources. They are passionate about technology but Greece is not exactly known for a blooming tech scene. Says Katerina, “Since we are improving TokCloud every day, we don’t have the time to travel to another country to participate in conferences or events. However, we have a more than satisfying user base thanks to social media and websites like Startup Dope!”
On creating TokCloud Aggelos says, “The web is chock-full with vast amounts of information. So how do you find what is reliable and trustworthy? Who do you trust to inform you? This question was always asked during development and has guided us to create TokCloud as it is today.”
In addressing the issue content discovery and information validity, TokCloud introduces many novel concepts. They have a large selection of reliable news sources like TechCrunch and Re/Code and they are constantly adding more. The news from these sources are presented in a clean interface and users can easily filter through them. “And more importantly, TokCloud allows selecting tech experts as news sources instead of media outlets which builds a relationship between readers and the person behind the news improving the trust factor”, adds Aggelos.
The company is currently creating a content recognition engine that will allow users to personalize their streams simply by reading what they find interesting. “We think this engine is our biggest asset and can take us to a direction we cannot fully comprehend towards Content Personalization as it should be”, says Aggelos.
TokCloud is experimenting with different monetization methods but it is not a priority for them right now. Visit their website to get started.
