Josh Weiner
Don’t you think our attention span has shrunk significantly? If the older generation believes that the millennials and Gen Z refrain from reading the news and exploring the events around the world, they are wrong. With the advent of social media platforms and news apps, consumer behavior has significantly changed. Gen Z and millennials are spending much time on social media today. Their content consumption habits have transformed. A recent panel discussion on “Leveraging the Power of News App” by Riple founders, Anupam Ghosal and Suman Saha touched upon topics like content consumption, evolving social news apps, and changing consumer approaches.
Changing News Consumption Habit
In the last few years, the content and news consumption habits of people have been shaped by social media channels. The social media platforms have emerged as the go-to sources for trending stories and breaking news. The immediacy of channels like X guarantees that users are the first to unfold the events or breaking news. Despite the omnipresent influence of social media channels, Riple founders, Anupam and Suman noticed that there is no mechanism to govern the news and people sharing unverified news and biased opinions.
Riple’s Journey
About the Ingenious Minds
The entry of Riple, a mobile app is changing how we scroll through the headlines and keep ourselves up-to-date and informed through relevant stories. The social news application, created by two young Indian men, is revolutionizing how we consume stories and news. Anupam Ghosal, belonging to the Cambridge Business School Alumni, and Suman Saha, a tech hotshot behind India’s leading indoor navigation company, ParchAI, identified the challenges of existing news aggregator applications, the lengthy news report approach, and they leave us uninformed or misinformed.
Backed by Cutting-Edge AI Technology
Suman created the advanced AI technology that backs Riple. The AI engine minutely examines the internet for the most relevant content from authentic and credible sources, transforming them into bite-size summaries within 100 words. Riple prioritizes facts, unlike the spread of misinformation on social media platforms. In the words of Suman, “We combine a team of qualified human moderators and AI engine to guarantee users receive reliable information and news from credible sources.”
Getting Appreciation and Funding
Riple started its journey in October 2023 and has already won a massive loyal fan base of over 300,000 users in the UK and the UK. The astonishing 100,000 daily active users in just 30 seconds grabbed the attention of multiple investors and venture capitalists at the DisruptX Accelerator Program. One of the prominent recognition and funding came from Yuvidigital’s pre-seed investor, Mr. Prashant Waghmare. Yuvidigital Worldwide Ltd (YDT) is a London-based VC advisory firm with a reputation for supporting several tech ventures across the globe. Mr. Prashant has a keen interest in innovative startups, and Riple is no exception. Mr. Prashant, co-founder at YDT spotted the potential of AI-backed Riple and was one of the early investors in the company.
Indian Founders are Sparking News Revolution in the Western Media
In the words of Anupam Ghosal, “Social media has become a platform for comments, shares, and likes, taking credibility for news a backseat. People share opinions and unverified news simply for popularity without any analysis. It has led to the rise of meme and parody accounts, further declining the authenticity. We understood the problem with tongue-in-cheek news or content, resulting in one of India’s first AI-backed short news apps, Riple.”
CTO and Co-founder Suman Saha explain, “The use of AI and ML in Riple in customizing the user experience. It is one of the significant focus areas for Riple. The news app already delivers a certain level of personalization, but we believe there is always scope to enhance the effectiveness and precision of the content recommendation algorithms. It will make the short news platform more attractive and engaging for its users.” He even hinted that Riple would soon introduce a feature where users don’t have to touch their smartphones or devices to read the news. Riple is already creating waves in the West and taking the concept of new snippets to the next level.
Advent of Short News Applications
Riple founders realized that the audience expects accurate, current, and readable content or information. It is the reason why news on social media platforms is getting substituted by short news-based applications, using AI and ML-backed cutting-edge technology and giving the optimal news reading experience to the users. Social media platforms and reels falter in finding reliable local news from villages and small towns. However, the short news apps deliver credible local, national, and global content guaranteeing the depth of coverage.
In Conclusion
Because our attention span has decreased to under a minute, news platforms and aggregators follow the standard practice of offering the appropriate news. Marketing strategists and news aggregators are changing their approaches with the evolving trends in content consumption and focusing on innovative ways to attract and engage readers. Riple is the ideal example of delivering to the point, contextual, important information in 100 words. It saves time and creates a better news reading experience. As India’s one of the first AI-backed news apps, it is successful in targeting the age group 18 to 45 years from across the world.
In the video, the founders talk about the journey of Riple and what made them come up with the idea of 100 words of contextual and verified news or content.
