Social reader app Flipboard announced that it’s acquired content discovery tool and reader Zite from CNN. While Zite traded hands for a reported $60 million, it also appears that CNN has jumped on the Flipboard bandwagon and will be sharing its news and feature stories in its new Flipboard magazines: CNN and CNN International.
While providing users a choice of over 40,000 topics to subscribe to, the Zite app learns readers’ interests from their use of the app and then delivers personalized news feeds. The acquisition will bring these powerful recommendation and personalization features to Flipboard. Flipboard CEO Mike McCue commented on the strength Zite will bring to Flipboard’s content discovery capabilities:
We acquired Zite from CNN to address something we’ve heard from a lot of you: although you can already read thousands of sources from over 20 regions on Flipboard, you want easier and better ways to discover content about the things that matter to you. Adding Zite’s expertise in personalization and recommendations to Flipboard’s product experience and powerful curator community will create an unparalleled personal magazine for our millions of readers.
Zite co-founder and CTO Mike Klaas pointed out that, while Zite was always touted as a “Flipboard killer,” the two services have always been complimentary, rather than competitive. Both companies aim to help people discover great content, which has been Zite’s vision since launching. “I’m absolutely convinced that joining forces with Flipboard is the right next step in achieving the vision we started with back in 2005,” Klaas wrote on the Zite blog.
While Zite’s personalization features and some of its staff will make their way to Flipboard, the Zite app itself will, unfortunately for some, shut down. Klaas hopes that Zite users will transition along with them and, in addition to continuing to support Zite for at least another six months, Zite will also build a way for users to import their Zite data into Flipboard.
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