Despite its rapid growth and the addition of new features like user profiles, commenting, and link sharing since its public launch in February 2023, there is still uncertainty about the app's primary focus. It is compared to Flipboard and Pinterest for its curated news and inspirational content, but its lack of a dedicated focus could lead to confusion about its purpose. Whether it's a news app, a discovery tool, a recommendations app, or a rival to other platforms remains to be seen.
Key takeaways:
- Artifact, the AI-powered news aggregation app from Instagram’s co-founders, is adding a feature to share favorite places such as restaurants, bars, and shops, further transforming it into a discovery engine for the broader web.
- The new feature allows Artifact users to establish themselves as curators, building a following by sharing their recommendations, thoughts, and favorite places.
- AI plays a significant role in Artifact, powering its recommendation engine, rewriting clickbait headlines, summarizing news stories, and adding images to posts to attract users' attention.
- Despite its rapid growth and new features, there's uncertainty about Artifact's identity and focus, with comparisons to Flipboard, Pinterest, and Twitter, and questions about whether it's a news app, a discovery tool, a recommendations app, or a competitor to other platforms.