Why BreakingNews is offering ‘proximity alerts' for app users

Notifications from mobile news apps can be annoying for users if the stories they are being alerted to are not relevant or of interest. 

The latest update to the BreakingNews app, NBC's mobile-first start-up, aims to combat this by using geolocation technology which allows users to receive tailored 'proximity alerts' only when a big story breaks near their current location.

Other news outlets are already experimenting with geolocation. Some, such as the New York Times' NYT Now, provide geolocated weather forecasts while others, such as La Nouvelle République in France, push local news to readers based on their location.

However, according to BreakingNews founder Cory Bergman this is the first time geolocated alerts specifically for breaking stories have been featured on a mobile app.

We think of push notifications like a tap on the shoulderCory Bergman, BreakingNews

"We think of push notifications like a tap on the shoulder," said Bergman told Journalism.co.uk by email. 

"If you’re really going to interrupt someone, it better be important."

However, Bergman acknowledges that, beyond the really big breaking stories such as natural disasters and mass shootings, everyone has a different view of what is important.

"Our goal is to get really good at finding people with the breaking news that uniquely matters to each of them," he said.  

To achieve this, BreakingNews has done three things with notifications, as Bergman explained:

"First, we reserve our universal push alerts for bigger stories than most news apps.

"Then we enable users to set their own custom push notifications for any of over 40,000 topics including places, well-known people, companies, ongoing stories and issues in the news.

"And our latest addition is proximity alerts that notify users when big news is breaking nearby their location."

BreakingNews is currently sending out "50 or so" proximity alerts each month, he said.

To generate an alert, a story must be breaking at a specific location rather than just referencing the name of the area.

BreakingNews editors then determine whether this is a story people nearby would urgently want to know about.

If it is, they then select the region they believe may be impacted by the story.

It’s an entirely new application of journalismCory Bergman, BreakingNews

Proximity alerts can be targeted within a specific neighborhood, city, or across an entire country.

"Our platform makes educated guesses along the way, and our editors make the final call," explained Bergman.

"It’s an entirely new application of journalism: deciding which geography is urgently impacted by a story that just happened."

The updated app, available on iOS and Android, includes a couple of other new personalisation features, such as a 'Whoa' tab where users can add the stories they find most surprising.

Another addition is a 'watchlist' tab to make it easier for users to monitor topics and issues that are of interest to them.

The recent update is the latest in a string of personalisation features offered by the BreakingNews app, which include allowing users to 'mute' certain types of stories, and to receive push notifications around subjects of interest for smaller stories as well as big breaking ones.

Bergman believes that geolocated news will have an even bigger part to play in how people receive and consume news in the near future, and BreakingNews are currently working on more geolocation features to "extend the power" of proximity alerts.

"How many times have you felt an earthquake, heard a long outburst of sirens or saw a large column of smoke and wondered what’s going on?"

"It’s an intense need to know, and intensifies as you travel."

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