Our first free digital intelligence app is here - Your Story Library

Something changed. Something big. Your Story Library is ready for you to try out and we couldn't be more chuffed. We hope you'll find it useful.

Before anyone groans at the thought of yet another app, here's some things we think makes this app cool. You don't need to download anything, go to an app store, fill in an annoying email information form or pay any money. Once the app is working for you, you don't have to be online to gain access. This is great for those occasions when you want to consume content but have no internet connection. What's not to like about that? You simply need to activate it by choosing stories. Here's how it works and what you do. 

Each story now has an icon next to it that looks like this: 

When you click the icon the app adds the story to Your Story Library and the icon changes color so that  you know it is in the library. 

If you are using the library on a laptop then you simply click on the link to Your Story Library and you are presented with the story image, the headline and the intro text of the stories you have selected as in this example. 

If you are using a mobile device then we suggest that you add the library to your homepage as you would add a bookmark. It will show up as a linked icon. In mobile device view, you will only see the headline and intro text. This is to make the best use of smartphone real estate. 

When you click on the story link you are presented with the story in its original form. Once you have consumed the story then you can click the icon again either in the story or in the library to remove it from the library. 

Please note that there is no synchronization between the mobile and laptop libraries. That's because in this iteration, we don't require you to register, provide us with an email address or download an app from an app store. This may change over time but right now, we don't need that data in order to understand how the app is used. We get the data we need through anonymized tracking, tied to our analytics platforms. In other words how you use it is your affair and we cannot identify you directly from the data we collect. 

Why should you use Your Story Library?

diginomica covers a LOT of ground, across more than a hundred tagged topic areas. We publish five to seven stories each workday, more when we're attending or reporting on events and occasionally at weekends. Today, our library contains more than 10,000 stories. Much of our content has a very long shelf life with interest in some stories going back right to the beginning in 2013. How is our content consumed beyond those who trip across our content via Google News?

• Some people like to follow specific story types.
• Other people want all the coverage from a particular event.
• Still others find a specific storyline or topic interesting.
• Yet others need specific content for specific purposes such as researching software types, vendors or use cases.
• We also know that tastes, interests and needs change over time. 

If you fall into any of the above categories of content consumer then our intelligent Your Story Library is definitely for you.

Most important from your perspective, the app provides you with full control over story consumption without our having to second guess your interests or intent. In that sense, we believe it offers users the (near) perfect content personalization experience without our having to ask you where your interests lay while providing a fresh level of consumption convenience. Now for a few use case examples. 

Some use case examples

• We send a version of Jon's weekly Hits & Misses to thousands of email subscribers but not everyone wants to consume the content in that way. Jon's summary is a long read and not everyone has time to take it all in at once. We can envisage people compiling a library of this specific content for consumption over time rather than having to keep yet another tab open in their browser. 
• People are often interested in a particular vendor or storyline attached to a vendor. Run a search, (our search engine is pretty darned good), review the list of stories and simply pick the ones that look the most relevant to your current interests. 
• Some people love podcasts and while we don't produce that many, they are always well received. Using the library this way is an alternative to having a podcasting app on your mobile device with the bonus of having edited content reflecting the podcast story in a single story set. The same could hold true for video content. 

What's next?

It is very early days and as you will see, we have deliberately kept the app UI minimal. A bit like Google. There are good reasons for that. We observe that many applications become bloated over time and less useful, despite being feature laden. We will assiduously avoid that trap. 

Before steaming ahead with a long list of extra 'features' we want to see how well this app is received. We also want your unvarnished feedback. That's easily done by either leaving a comment to this story or sending me an email: den [at] diginomica [dot] com. Having said that, we have some ideas about features that add demonstrable value but we'll keep those to ourselves for the time being. 

In the meantime - enjoy.