Social media is overwhelming. The amount of information, misinformation, and slop makes it hard for the average news consumer to wade through the deluge of posts and know who to trust.
According to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, more and more people are turning to creators for news. About 27% of adults in 48 countries get news from online creators on a weekly basis, though only 13% said news creators meet most or all of their information needs.
But a new creator-focused app aims to compete with big tech platforms. SaySo, which launched in April, is a video news app that aims to provide “vetted creators, real stories, zero doom scroll.”
SaySo’s head of product Cydney Adams said she and her team wanted to create a space where users could trust the information they were consuming while creators could serve an engaged audience.
“The thing that we kept seeing in the [survey] data was that people are really overwhelmed and that most people in our target audience are getting their information online,” Adams said. “How can we meet them where they are and give them a place that makes them feel less overwhelmed, and that takes the guesswork out of ‘who are these people? Can I trust them?'”
The app is the latest product from Caliber, the holding company behind the social-first news outlets The News Movement, The Recount, and Capsule. (The News Movement was founded by Will Lewis, who went on to become the publisher of The Washington Post but stepped down earlier this year after mass layoffs, and former BBC News editorial director Kamal Ahmed. It has a million followers on TikTok.) SaySo is “an evolution and a natural growth of the type of content we’re already making,” Adams said.
SaySo launched with 30 news creators who have built audiences on other platforms and cross-post their content to the app. Some include climate-focused Lia Newman, former TV reporter and host of the Make It Make Sense podcast Grant Hermes, daily news explainer David Arthur, global politics–focused Leo Explains, and Isabel Ravenna. Content from Caliber’s other outlets is also cross-published on SaySo.
When users join SaySo, they’re prompted to follow the topics they’re most interested in, including current events, pop culture, education, technology, and sports. The app’s Digest tab is a curated feed intended to catch viewers up on the day’s news.
“Other platforms are built to keep you as long as possible, and we don’t want that to be the case,” Adams said. “We want it to be news on your terms.” Still, there’s an Explore tab with more videos and SaySo’s algorithm surfaces content based on what users have already viewed. All creator videos are reviewed by content moderators before they become publicly available, and creators and users are expected to follow SaySo’s community guidelines, which prohibit hate speech.
Creators were vetted and chosen based on in-house criteria that prioritizes journalistic standards and fact-based content. The founding creators all receive stipends through their contracts with SaySo (Adams didn’t disclose the amounts).
Adams’ goal is to onboard at least 70 more creators by the end of the year. “We want this to be a platform where all perspectives are welcomed,” she said. “I don’t believe it’s possible to be entirely unbiased, but it is possible to be fair by being honest with your audience about where you stand…what we want is for people to be upfront about it, and also share their sources of where they’re getting their information, so the user can make their own decision about how they want to move forward with forming their own opinion.”
The app is currently free, though Adams said she and the team are looking to run monetization experiments in coming months. While advertising isn’t planned, creator-made sponsored content will be allowed if it’s disclosed. SaySo is looking into revenue share with creators, options for users to directly compensate creators, and paywalled premium features like personalization.
SaySo isn’t the first alternative news app. Last year, journalist Jane Ferguson launched Noosphere, a subscription-based app for independent multimedia journalists. In November, former NewsGuard editor Jack Brewster launched the app Newsreel, which features “journalist-written stories every day in a swipeable stack.” Legacy news outlets are also pushing vertical video starring their own journalists.
“Both [Noosphere and Newsreel] are fantastic ideas,” Adams said. “[SaySo] is somewhere in the middle, where we’re bringing together creators from all across different platforms — people who are not just journalists, but subject matter experts and people who have on-the-ground experience. We’re targeting that middle-ground audience of people who want to be better-informed without being so overwhelmed.”
