Reddit is making it simpler to find news on the platform with a beta test of a news tab in its iOS app. You might not always want to sift through personal essays and cat photos to find news from your favorite subreddits. So, Reddit is pulling from a bunch of subreddits that often discuss the issues of the day to populate the tab. It features links to news outlets, along with videos and GIFs for some topics like sports and tech, as well as the source thread so you 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.
You can filter the news you see based on topics and subtopics you’re interested in, such as US/world news, politics, tech, entertainment and gaming. The feature will source news from more subreddits over the next few months, and it will arrive on desktop later in the summer.
Reddit is also working on a way to link to different threads in various subreddits that are discussing the same link. That could be especially useful if it’s a political story and you want to rant about it with like-minded folks, or its a sports play you want to break down with other fans of your own team.
At first glance, the News tab is a little hit and miss. The sports section has all the key details from the latest World Cup games, including a nifty Neymar trick. The gaming section, however, features someone’s (admittedly nifty) pixel art — not quite a Cronkite-worthy bombshell. It seems like Reddit might have to find a way to make sure the news is timely, too. There’s an Engadget story in the technology section about StumbleUpon closing down at the end of this month. Someone shared the link on Reddit early Friday; we published the story a month ago.
This article originally appeared on Engadget.
