Artifact, the news aggregation platform crafted by Instagram’s co-founders, is unveiling a fresh functionality today that represents a significant departure from its core function of monitoring, summarizing, and discussing news content. Now, users have the ability to share web links, triggering the creation of a personalized feed based on their interests. This move positions Artifact more directly in competition with social apps that enable text and link sharing, such as X and Threads.
This newly introduced feature, aptly named “Links,” serves as a showcase for Artifact’s AI technology, according to the company.
To initiate the process, all users need to do is share a URL, which then appears as a visual feed within a newly introduced “Links” tab in the app. Within this tab, a section labeled “For You” presents users with additional links that align with their interests.
Beyond merely sharing a link, Artifact’s users also have the option to provide a caption or attach images to convey their thoughts or “hot takes,” or they can curate the most captivating images as part of their post. This effectively transforms users into creators, potentially building a following within the Artifact community. The company plans to display posted links to other relevant users to help creators establish an audience.
In addition, the Links feature offers creative tools that enable users to swiftly upload, crop, and rearrange their images. For assistance with caption creation, creators can turn to Artifact’s AI, originally designed for summarizing lengthy news articles.
When reading articles on Artifact, creators can also share quotes by highlighting text and selecting “Share to Links” from a new pop-up menu.
Early adopters have already shared a diverse range of content via Links, including new products, videos, headline recaps, app reviews, recipes, architecture slideshows, and more. This positions the app as a competitor not only to social platforms like X but also to Flipboard, known for its user-curated social magazines, and even link-based platforms like Pinterest.
While Artifact had been gradually edging into social networking territory with recent features like article commenting and tools for writers to claim their profiles and monitor their readership, the new Links feature represents a significant leap forward.
Now, Artifact users can search for and follow individuals who have established social profiles on the platform. New posts from followed users will appear under a dedicated “Following” section. These profiles have been redesigned to prominently feature recently posted links.
With Links, using Artifact shifts from being a passive news-reading experience to one where users actively engage in news discovery. However, this may also lead some users to introduce content from smaller websites, blogs, and less reputable news sources where information isn’t as rigorously fact-checked as in mainstream publications initially supported by Artifact.
To address this potential concern, the company is implementing a two-pronged approach. First, it employs AI that leverages several third-party moderation services to detect objectionable content, as defined by community guidelines. The second layer involves manual reviews, which are a combination of crowdsourcing and active monitoring by the Artifact team.
Artifact co-founder Kevin Systrom, who created the app alongside his Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger, explains, “The same AI that powers article discovery can be used for anything on the web — though it’s less tractable to crawl it all, and likely better to let users choose the best stuff. Artifact is about feeding your curiosity, and that goes beyond the best publishers in the world. Sometimes the best content is on a small blog that deserves to be discovered on a platform like this.”
The Links feature is currently available on both iOS and Android, with Android posting functionality arriving soon.
