Mini newsfeed comments? Let me know!
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jbrandon last edited byHey Community,
I'm the U.S. content manager for Opera Mini's FeedNews function. Some of my duties are sending news notifications, curating Top News, and making content recommendations for the U.S. market.
I'd really like to get some feedback on your experiences with our newsfeed, especially for our American users but other markets are welcome to participate. How have the push notifications been? What do you like? What don't you like? How well did our AI personalize your feed? Have you noticed any biases? Anything content-wise that is missing and you want to see? What news section did you use? (categories, Top News, topics, pushes, etc)
That's a big ol' wall of questions, but any input you have is appreciated. Perhaps I can work on solving a few issues and let staff know what you like too! Thanks!
Jaron
Jaron E. Brandon
Content Manager
Opera Software AS
Em: jbrandon@opera.com
Site: linkedin.com/in/jaronbrandon -
laborbats last edited by
Nice to see the U.S. content manager for Opera Mini's FeedNews,
Both opera desktop and opera mini are my favorite browser. I like to open a lot of news and read latter, the middle click works on opera desktop, while opera mini is less convenient to do that. Read Latter or Open In New Tab are good feature for FeedNews.
Sometimes clickbait headlines are hard to find. Unlike other guys, I found myself that those news tend to be more attracting than boring formal news. Typically, manually source filtering are not my interest, but the news curating tends to provide similar news from various sources, so i have to read more before my preferable news comes.
By the way, is the Top News category removable? If this is part of business mode, I could keep one eye open.
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jbrandon last edited by
@laborbats Nice to see you too! Really looking to get some good convos going.
Interesting about the clickbait comment. Are the types of boring news you see too much like Trump, Bitcoin, and other 'hard' news subjects? For soft news and easy reads, could you tell me more about that? As in, are you looking for a specific thing (your favorite band, for example) or are you just generally looking for more interesting reads?
I believe you can disable Top News by hitting the '+' sign in the category bar, then unselecting it from your topics.
Thanks again, first comment!
Jaron E. Brandon
Content Manager
Opera Software AS
Em: jbrandon@opera.com
Site: linkedin.com/in/jaronbrandon -
jbrandon last edited by
@laborbats Ah, the other thing. We have a 'Read Offline' option which is similar to your Read Later one. You can also add an article to your home screen, create a bookmark, or send it to yourself via something like Pocket. Have you had a chance to check these out? You can find it on the three-dots setting menu next to the URL omnibar.
Jaron E. Brandon
Content Manager
Opera Software AS
Em: jbrandon@opera.com
Site: linkedin.com/in/jaronbrandon -
laborbats last edited by
I guest the Top News is the Top Stories in the older opera mini, while the opera mini in my phone is at 2X version which has not been upgrade a long long ago. Might give it a shot as things are getting better with time.
Since I'm looking for more interesting reads, those "You won't believe" "That Will Shock You" news are entertaining to me. Yes and No, some 'hard' news are not interested in forever, while some 'hard' news still provides something (despite the contents). Reading long article is comfortable.
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jbrandon last edited by
@laborbats Ok. Can I ask which country you are using Opera in? I only directly control U.S. content. For example, I have a topic full of long reads called "Editor's Desk" but that is only here.
There are a lot of updates. Some are ones people have negatively mentioned (ads), but others are optimizing to make it faster and adding new features. Might help some problems.
Have you found that after clicking several articles like the 'You Won't Believe' and 'This Will Shock You' you've started getting more relevant results in your feed? Or is it about the same?
Jaron E. Brandon
Content Manager
Opera Software AS
Em: jbrandon@opera.com
Site: linkedin.com/in/jaronbrandon -
laborbats last edited by
Yes, the region I come from is Taiwan. Different regions have different set of categories yet. The Top Stories seems to be always highlighted below the speed dial and unable to cancel out.
The articles of 'You Won't Believe' and 'This Will Shock You' might have some relevant result distributed from other people tastes. Am I right? A new profile is required to observe. It costs some extra effort to compare.
So maybe jump and aboard to other region, maybe US, might be a alternative I think.
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jbrandon last edited by
@laborbats Yes, we don't yet have content managers specifically for Taiwan, so it is from our AI-powered engine. Since your user profile isn't filled out yet on a new install, it is mostly based on other people's choices.
You can choose a different market, but that AI will still need to build your user profile. I recommend adding the categories you like (perhaps entertainment and science?) and selecting articles from there. After maybe 10 or 20 selections, your 'For You' feed should get much better at knowing what you like.
Jaron E. Brandon
Content Manager
Opera Software AS
Em: jbrandon@opera.com
Site: linkedin.com/in/jaronbrandon
