Reddit beta tests 'news' tab in iOS app

Aiming to make it simpler for users to find news on the platform, social news aggregation and discussion website Reddit has begun beta testing for its "news" tab in iOS app, the media reported.

"You might not always want to sift through personal essays and cat photos to find news from your favourite subreddits. So, Reddit is pulling from a bunch of subreddits that often discuss the issues of the day to populate the tab," Engadget reported on Saturday.

The news tab features links to news outlets, along with videos and GIFs for topics such as technology and sports as well as the source thread so users can talk about the story.

"Reddit selects the subreddits the news tab draws from based on a number of factors, so hopefully you won't see too much propaganda," the report added.

Notably, the feature is in beta for the time being and the company has not mentioned a timeline for its public launch.

The web content rating website reportedly said, "To determine what is newsworthy, we first figured out which subreddits were engaging with news the most."

According to TechCrunch, it did this by looking at the most-clicked posts by domain in the subreddits and came up with a list of around 1,000 domains from media publishers focused on news.

--IANS

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