Circa is back with a bang. On Thursday, the news reading app developer released v2.0 of its popular application, one that will offer real-time breaking news alerts and readers can "get through in seconds rather than minutes."
Circa, company CEO Matt Galligan believes, is a powerful app that's makes less noise than Twitter and has a speed advantage over other news reading apps. For instance, Galligan pointed out that Circa beat Fox News and CNN with the report of Ariel Castro's suicide in prison cell.
However, Circa is not content with just curating news and content from other sources - the company wants to do original reporting, a big challenge considering that its editorial team has only 10 writers, who work in shifts around the clock.
Galligan said Circa's editors, unlike editors of other sites, "don't rewrite any one story." Rather, they try to "identify the core facts across multiple sources and write them up."
Circa's original app did not push opinionated news and stories but v2.0 will be offering opinions and analysis, if its editors consider them worthy.
"Push notifications can't be abused, because the user is essentially granting you a way into their personal space," Galligan says. "You have to be respectful of a user's environment."
Another new feature that will make its debut in Circa v2.0 is the ability to send unverified or speculative news and stories to users who have requested them.
The one-year old app, which made its debut in the App Store, is now available to Android users too. It is in the process of building its audience and though it hasn't devised any method of monetization, but given its direction, it's clear that it has Twitter, Flipboard and other aggregators in its sight and wants to draw away mobile news junkies.
The company was co-founded by Cheezburger Network CEO Ben Huh and has raised, so far, about $1.7 million in seed funding from a handful of investors.
