History
Ongo was founded by CEO Alex Kazim, who devised the idea for the site after growing "frustrated with the low quality of most news sites." Kazim, who had previously held executive positions atPurpose
Ongo aimed to compile news from "trusted titles" in one location, while also looking to provide a premium user experience. The user experience was based on design (stories are presented in columns) and a lack of advertisements on site. Ongo used both a proprietary relevance engine and a staff of professional editors to find and highlight important stories. In addition to focusing on top stories, Ongo's editorial staff selected interesting stories and editorial pieces that were showcased for Ongo subscribers.Features
A standard Ongo package included the ''New York Times'' Picks, ''USA Today'', the Associated Press, ''Financial Times'' Selected Content, ''The Washington Post'', ProPublica and Reuters. The basic package typically contained over 800 stories per day. Users could add other publications to their individual packages. Other features included the following: * Topics - News playlists, which compiled all stories pertaining to certain key words or phrases the subscriber has specified. * Clips - An option that allowed readers to store articles to read at a later time. All clipped stories are compiled in one page for readers. * Clubs - Subscriber-created groups where members could share and comment on stories. The groups may have related to a certain topic. Members of clubs did not need to be Ongo subscribers. Ongo editors also highlighted stories onFunding and partnerships
In September 2010, the Gannett Company, Inc., The New York Times Company and The Washington Post Company each invested $4 million initial financing in Ongo, making for a total of $12 million. Representatives from the three companies sat on Ongo's board of directors.Publications
Ongo offered readers over 50 publication options to choose from. ''The New York Times'' and ''Financial Times'' both offered limited content on Ongo. With the ''New York Times'' Picks, users could access the top 20 stories of the day (10 picked by the newspaper and 10 by Ongo editors). The ''Financial Times'' offered subscribers 20 stories per week, all hand-picked by Ongo staff. Other publications, such as ''The Boston Globe'', provided "top story" versions for as well as full editions of the paper. Listed below are all publication options. * ''The New York Times'' Picks * ''USA Today'' * ''The Washington Post'' * The Associated Press * ''Financial Times'' Selected Content * ProPublica * ''Devices
Ongo'sReception
Ongo was listed on The Next Web as one of "8 Social Media Apps to Watch in 2011". On the site's release, ''The New York Times'' wrote "Ongo is for readers who peruse a variety of publications every day and want to read them all in one place." In a press release, Ovum Ltd analyst Adrian Drury was quoted saying, "Ongo is bringing a web application to market that delivers a slick interface for reading news onscreen. In exchange, Ongo seeks to package content from premium news publishers and get a monthly subscription from users for the service." ''USA Today'' reviewed Ongo's iPad app, giving it three out of four stars and complimenting the interface and variety of publications available.References
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