Entertaining video streaming headline news app. Most apps just bring you the news but we bring you the news in a fast & entertaining way.
Target Audience: Millenials
Website URL: https://headlinerapp.com
No. of Feedback Providers Requested: 5
Feedback sought:
1) Look around the home page (https://headlinerapp.com) – what is your initial impression of what you see?
2) Download the app from (https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id969595717?mt=8). What does the app do? Do you find anything confusing?
3) Check out the “Featured Feed”. Describe what you see. What did you like? What you didn’t?
4) Check out the “Discover Feed”. Describe something that you “discovered”. What did you like? What you didn’t?
5) Could you please give us thoughts on the profile pages?
6) Is there anything missing or something you would add?
7) What might be 1 or 2 things we can get rid of entirely?
1) Look around the home page (https://headlinerapp.com) – what is your initial impression of what you see?
A: As soon as I viewed the homepage, I observed a well developed and professional website. The background videos add to the maturity of the homepage interface.The texts are well defined and very precise. The contents are short and to the point and gives the viewer a sure sense of what the application is all about. It is not overloaded with content which often confuses the visitor and wastes ones time searching.
2) Download the app from (https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id969595717?mt=8). What does the app do? Do you find anything confusing?
A: The app download was very simple and not time consuming. It has a smooth working and a pleasant interface. After going about and exploring the app I can conclude that this is basically a news app where random people registered with the headliner community can live stream and watch news videos from across the world and can also post their own news videos. This is a fun application to render news in a hilarious fashion and connect with the world. Apart from the fact that its troll news, I do not find the slightest smithereen of confusion.
3) Check out the “Featured Feed”. Describe what you see. What did you like? What you didn’t?
The “Featured Feed” section is pretty interesting with an ample number of selectively picked news videos to choose from. I specially liked the interface as its similar to YouTube where we get to keep scrolling through all the other news videos while the selected news is playing in the background. The news humor is fun to watch and makes us want to watch more. I did not personally detest anything in the “Featured Feed” Column.
4) Check out the “Discover Feed”. Describe something that you “discovered”. What did you like? What you didn’t?
The application kept crashing at the discover feed section.
5) Could you please give us thoughts on the profile pages?
A: The profile page is simple and to the point with not too many details to be entered.
6) Is there anything missing or something you would add?
A: An upgraded messenger would do the trick.
7) What might be 1 or 2 things we can get rid of entirely?
A: I personally feel that the app is pale and not too interesting too look at the first time. Therefore, a bit more content would make it look more professional.
1) Look around the home page (https://headlinerapp.com) – what is your initial impression of what you see?
When I first clicked on the link to the homepage I was directed to a minimalistic page with only one action item that was immediately apparent (i.e. downloading the Headliner app). This isn’t necessarily bad, but the slideshow of pictures and clips didn’t give me a compelling reason as to why I should download the app in the first place. Merely looking at the page, I don’t know what distinguishes Headliners from all the other applications I use to get my news. The slogan and bylines make it clear that Headliners is a comedy-skewed news site, but the pictures used in the slideshow seem rather disjoined. The videos in the pictures/videos seem like Vines made by friends.
2) Download the app from (https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id969595717?mt=8). What does the app do? Do you find anything confusing?
First impressions, the application’s (downloaded on mobile) layout looks like Flipboard’s (which is another news app), but when I click on what I perceive to be articles I am directed to videos that are very much reminiscent of YouTuber Vlogs and/or Vines. Most of the videos don’t seem to be very funny per say, but that may just be a personal preference or merely what I get without uploading more information about myself and my preferences.
Essentially, you seem to be turning people’s commentary of various news articles into a quasi-social network.
3) Check out the “Featured Feed”. Describe what you see. What did you like? What you didn’t?
I like that I can see people within my network commenting on story’s, but (with the exception of making it easier to comment on top news articles with my mobile phone’s camera) I don’t see how this is conceptually different from my Facebook Newsfeed. What perks would draw me to Headliner’s when larger social media sites have a bigger audience? I’m sure they exist, but they are not readily apparent on the site.
4) Check out the “Discover Feed”. Describe something that you “discovered”. What did you like? What you didn’t?
For the life of me, I could not even see the discovery page. Is it the the bullhorn icon on the first page? If so, I love the layout, but I wish there was a way to read the article these individuals are supposedly reacting to. Otherwise, I don’t really understand the context of the video. It’s just individuals ranting, albeit with a humorous slant.
5) Could you please give us thoughts on the profile pages?
It needs more customization. The whole point is for people to be funny. The bio section leaves much to be desired in this respect. Also, you have a space to link to Facebook and Twitter profiles, but not Youtube, Vine, or Twitch. The latter sites are going to have members that produce the sort of content you are looking for. I would try to accommodate to them.
6) Is there anything missing or something you would add?
I would (again, I am using the mobile app) make the original article or story be more prominent in this version of your application. I would really appreciate the context for the commentary. Some of these are very complex and 25 seconds isn’t able to bring em up to speed, let alone add the rich and nuanced commentary you are looking for.
7) What might be 1 or 2 things we can get rid of entirely?
I don’t really see the purpose of the leaderboard. I get that you are trying to establish a Headliner community among your commentators, but I didn’t see a messaging feature, and without it, the prior objective seems rather moot.
1) Look around the home page (https://headlinerapp.com) – what is your initial impression of what you see?
The first thing I noticed on the home page was that there was easy access to Contact, Privacy Policy, and Social Media accounts. This makes it easy in case anyone decides to do further research on this app before downloading. I do like that it is all one page and not a bunch of pages I have to scroll through. This makes it very user friendly and accessible to those who are just there to find the app they are looking for. The pictures on the home screen do seem to be changing though which doesn’t work well on my computer. It glitches and turns blurry. This puts a bad image in my mind for what the app will be like.
2) Download the app from (https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id969595717?mt=8). What does the app do? Do you find anything confusing?
When I first downloaded this app I was confused as to what it was. The headlines confused me with the profile pictures below. I soon realized that these were the people who responded to the headliners. This was a very easy thing that I figured out on my own. I flipped through the task bar on the bottom and felt everything was easily explained with the text box right above it. I then created my own video which went smooth enough. All of the features are well laid out and it is clear to see what this app is for-to see how others react to headliners, in a hopefully humorous way.
3) Check out the “Featured Feed”. Describe what you see. What did you like? What you didn’t?
I did like that everything on the Featured Feed page was relevant. Anyone who uses this app will have their attention caught right away by something on that page. There were many different topics to scan through as well. I did not like how everyone’s responses were about the same. This is basically an app where everyone can complain about the news without actually reading in to what was said. Take for instance the first headliner I had today; “TRUMP SAYS HILARY IS PLAYING THE WOMAN CARD”. Everyone who responded was against Trump and none of them had any just answers. I understand that this is supposed to be a “funny” app but the responses were not thought out and made the users look arrogant.
4) Check out the “Discover Feed”. Describe something that you “discovered”. What did you like? What you didn’t?
The first thing I decided to search was “turtles”. This came up with four results, all of which made no sense. They were about a sea turtle theft, illegal turtle trade, saving turtles from trains, and a Florida women goes for a turtle ride. I personally enjoy more factual news but these were definitely humorous as the app intended. I also enjoyed that you could search for a user as well. This would come in handy if anyone recommended a user. It would be easy to look them up later. I didn’t understand why Discover had a headliner on it though. Why wasn’t that under the “Featured Feed”? “Today’s Leaderboard” was fun to search through, however, to see who is the top trending ‘reporter’.
5) Could you please give us thoughts on the profile pages?
The profiles were perfectly laid out. They were short and sweet. There is no need to have tons of personal information on this website to distract it from its sole purpose.
6) Is there anything missing or something you would add?
Although I like the feeling of it not being a social media, it may be nice to be able to message other users. This could be useful in case users would like to collaborate and create a video of the both of them. It may also be nice to have a response towards someone else’s opinion. It’s one thing to hear someone’s opinion but it’s another to actually start a conversation based on it. Today’s society needs a place where they solely talk about the news so they can get it off of other social media accounts.
7) What might be 1 or 2 things we can get rid of entirely?
I would get rid of the headline under the “Discover Feed”. This page should be for searching and discovering the hottest ‘reporters’. Any featured headliners should stay under the “Featured Feed” page.
1) Initial impressions are that its a news site with a difference, and it is immediately imploring you to download the app as there isn’t much information on the landing page
2) Upon downloading, the registration process was swift with Facebook – and now looking at the app, I sense that it is individuals providing videos which give their own take on big news stories and talking points around the world today. I don’t feel confused by anything that I’m seeing here, the main home page is a Facebook-feed type page with all the different Headliners giving their videos on news topics – some topics with more videos than others.
3) The featured feed section seems to be a continuous list of News articles, each with a particular Headliner’s take on it. I think they could be grouped a bit better; at present it just seems a continuous list of articles which may not have relevance to each other – a little grouping would help a lot.
4) Because the menus aren’t named, accessing the discover feed proved problematic – I’m not sure whether its the icon with the magnifying glass, as all I have here is a list of the headliners that I follow and today’s leaderboard, so nothing suggests there is a discover element here.But if this indeed is the section, it doesn’t feel like a discover-style sub-menu to me.
5) The profile pages are incredibly bland, they don’t seem interactive at all and I would have expected more of a Facebook-style profile page, with different links and a far more interactive interface.
6) A named menu, either on the side or a drop-down menu.
7) I think everything that is needed is here, it just needs to be refined and placed in the correct places.
1.) My initial impression is the home website is very engaging. But the videos in the background draw my attention away from the words in the foreground. So it took me a minute to read “Real. Funny. News. Entertaining video news from smart, funny people”. Based on that description paired with the videos in the background, this is an app I would like to download. One issue that I found with the homepage, which I don’t think is my internet connection, is that the video background is a little jumpy. I was also left wondering if I was supposed to be hearing any sound. Other than those issues, it’s pretty clean cut!
2.) After downloading the app, signing up with Facebook was easy. After registering, the ‘Suggestions’ screen comes up. I’m initially not sure who I’d want to follow, but I just select a few Headliners to get started. It helps to see how many views each Headliner has, because this would suggest that the more views someone has, the funnier and more insightful they are. After that step, I’m on what I’ll call a dashboard where I have several recent news headlines. I selected the headline about Trump accusing Hillary Clinton of playing the “woman card”. My initial reaction to the app is that I like that the headlines are easy to read, the Headliners’ clips are short, sweet, and funny. I do like the fact that, if there is more than one video for a headline, the other videos play following the first one. I found myself giggling at some of the things people were saying. This is definitely a great way to get the news!
3.) I’m not clear on what the “Featured Feed” is but I believe that it’s the first tab with the Headliner logo. I see a list of recent news Headlines. I like that you can easily scroll through to find headlines that you want to hear about. You can also see which headliners have posted a headline about that topic. The drop down arrow on each headline is handy, in case you want to watch a specific Headliner. However, I’m not sure if the pictures I see are the only Headliners who have posted, the most recent, or just the most popular? There’s nothing that I particularly dislike about this feed.
4.) I’m not sure about what the “Discover Feed” is either. If I had to guess I would think it would be the second tab with the magnifying glass. I like that getting to the Headliners’ pages who you follow is easy, so you can view more of a specific person’s headlines if you want. I like that there’s a search bar so you can manually search for any headlines you didn’t see in the “Featured Feed”. I’m not really sure what the bar is below the search and before the Leaderboard. Is JonBarr another featured Headliner, and what makes him show up there? Also, looking at “Today’s Leaderboard,” it looks like these are the Headliners that were suggested to me in the beginning. That makes more sense now.
5.) Editing your own profile is easy enough. In viewing others’ pages, I think it’s nice that the top portion is similar to what you would see in the Twitter app. For instance, number of followers, views, following, and videos. The Headliner’s profile blurb is nice because it just gives a quick bio about them, nothing too complicated. Again, it’s nice you can then view all of the videos from that Headliner under their profile.
6.) There is nothing that I can think of that’s missing from the app, except maybe the verbiage “Featured Feed” and “Discover Feed”.
7.) I would not remove anything from the app at this time.
1) Look around the home page (https://headlinerapp.com) – what is your initial impression of what you see?
I see an ad for an app about funny news. The individuals featured are attractive and seem to be having a good time. Several examples were used and would appeal to multiple audiences. I wanted to hear what they were saying on the videos so I could see if it would be an app I would want to use. I wanted to know if I found the content “funny” there was no sound. I thought it was an issue with my computer, so I turned up the volume, still no sound. I went to another website and played a video and got sound, so I concluded there was not actual sound on the home page. I would be more interested if I could hear what they were saying.
2) Download the app from (https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id969595717?mt=8). What does the app do? Do you find anything confusing?
I tried several times to download from my PC and couldn’t get it accomplished so I resorted to getting the app on my phone. First I have to sign up or log in. I would have liked to just open the app rather than signing in/up. It suggests I follow people/users. I don’t know who they are or what I’m really “following”
3) Check out the “Featured Feed”. Describe what you see. What did you like? What you didn’t? First how do I find the “featured feed”? Is it under Top News? I found a Leaderboard which seems to be the top hits for today, possibly? I’m just assuming that’s what it means. I watched some of MikeSakarians videos and didn’t think they were very funny. Not something I would log into and watch daily.
4) Check out the “Discover Feed”. Describe something that you “discovered”. What did you like? What you didn’t? Again I don’t see anything labeled “Discover Feed”. If I wanted to discover something, I would use the magnifier icon at the bottom of the app….and I already did that looking for the “Feature Feed” So now I’m thinking the feature feed is the megaphone icon?? So its confusing as to what you are referring to, but regardless of the names I can search for different profiles and listen to their videos with the magnifier and I don’t know how things are organized on the megaphone.
5) Could you please give us thoughts on the profile pages? Profile pages have a profile picture to help identify the individual. Some have a short bio on who they are. I’m not very interested in the profiles that don’t list bio information on who they actually are. you can link to twitter or facebook easily, and watch the videos. I like how the videos have a title.
6) Is there anything missing or something you would add? an explanation to why you need to sign in or up. Now I understand why I needed a profile. I thought I was logging into a funny news app, I didn’t understand I could actually upload my own videos to share. Also putting this info on the first webpage could be helpful.
7) What might be 1 or 2 things we can get rid of entirely? I don’t know about getting rid of anything, more information or a short tutorial could be added to help with understanding how the app works. Did I miss that? I just thought I had to figure it out on my own.