Artifact, the news app created by Instagram founders, introduced a new set of features enabling users to report clickbait articles, respond using emoji reactions, and share articles as images with various card options. These updates aim to enhance user experience and promote high-quality, informative content over deceptive articles.
The clickbait flagging feature allows users to mark an article as misleading through the three-dot menu within the article view or via a long press in the feed view. Artifact plans to utilize these reports as indicators to help prioritize useful articles over misleading ones. So far, the app has permitted users to report articles with reasons such as spam, paywalls, broken images or links, personally unappealing content, excessive advertisements, and false or misleading information. However, it remains unclear how Artifact will distinguish clickbait from these other signals.
Following the feature launch, Artifact is currently in the process of analyzing data and understanding the best way to optimize the tool, according to co-founder Kevin Systrom. In an interview with TechCrunch, Systrom stated, "Currently we are in data collection mode. We launched the reporting tool today and in the coming weeks, we’ll decide how best to use it to benefit users. As you might imagine, there’s a fair amount of noise in these signals so we’re being thoughtful about it." To avoid incorrectly removing or modifying content, Artifact is manually reviewing clickbait reports for the time being.
Artifact’s other features include the addition of six emoji reactions, such as thumbs up, heart, laughing face, angry face, amused face, and sad face, for users to respond to articles. The app has also improved article sharing by allowing users to share a story as an image directly, with different card options displaying the source name and summary. Users can share the article on Instagram stories, save it as an image, or select text from an article to share as a picture card.
Last month, Artifact launched AI-powered summaries for articles. In response to the growing demand for tools that simplify content consumption, platforms like Artifact and AppMaster.io enable users to access information easily and efficiently. The AppMaster’s no-code platform enables the development of web, mobile, and backend applications, helping users create visually appealing, interactive content.
