Newspanion

Comments are a dead end.

COMMENTS ARE OUT OF WHACK

A decade or so ago, news websites weren't sure if they wanted to let readers leave comments on articles. Flash forward to 2011 and the comment function is still the forgotten stepchild of online content.

Consider these problems:

When comments live at the bottom of the page, the conversation often turns ugly.

After the third page of comments, we tend to forget what the article was about in the first place.

Comments are unfiltered, unorganized, and redundant, and basically useless to publishers.

HOW TO FIX THEM

Imagine a world where comments can be attached to specific points in an article, like a footnote. Conversations surrounding content are organized and elegantly displayed.

And more, comments help build a whole picture of a user, making ads and content suggestions better over time.

This is what we're working on at Newspanion. Please get in touch with us to hear more about our system's benefits for users and publishers alike!

You can read about our team below.

Meet the team:

Alex Tandy works as a marketing strategist, creative, and "pitch man" at an up-and-coming full-service marketing agency, Conversation. He works on multiple teams and has aided the agency in developing ad campaigns and initiatives for clients such as dressbarn, maurices, North Shore-LIJ Medical Group, and numerous Johnson & Johnson brands.

Alex began his career as a journalist at The Huffington Post and has experience working in three editorial environments: newspapers, magazines and online. While no longer a "journalist" by trade, he is still passionate about news and its value.

Over a year ago, Alex started "hacking." He began by teaching himself Ruby on Rails, HTML/CSS, PHP, and Javascript. In February, he was a winner at the Spotify Music Apps Hack Weekend Hackathon in NYC. Today, he is building Newspanion's prototype (footnotey.com).

Twitter: @sweetastandy

Email: alex@newspanion.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alextandy
Andrew Pelkey is an amateur linguist and a professional New Yorker. He works full time as a member of the marketing team at one of the most exciting startups in the country, MakerBot Industries, where he runs the blog among other tasks. Before moving to the city, Andrew cut his teeth as an analyst and editor in the Washington, DC area. In different roles, he contributed writing and research to packages on everything from Western Balkan media and US defense initiatives to asset management and dental supplies distribution. He has participated in business development projects and has successfully managed both people and processes in various positions.

Hailing from the northern suburbs of Atlanta, Andrew counts among his interests the amazing shifting landscape of online media, all the incredible TV shows being produced these days, the polemic of Christopher Hitchens, and the movie Contact.

Andrew was a National Merit Scholar and season ticket holder at the University of Florida, as well as a National Security Education Program David L. Boren Scholar for 2005-2006. He has a BA in linguistics and is more proficient than the average dog in Serbo-Croation (and less so in French).

Twitter: @pelkertron

Email: andrew@newspanion.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/andrewpelkey
Paul Cheung is AP's Global Interactive Editor for its New York City headquarters. The interactive editor manages a global team of visual journalists who produce multimedia and information graphics for all formats, including print, online and mobile. Cheung is also an adjunct faculty member at Columbia Journalism School teaching visual journalism.

Prior to joining the AP, Cheung was The Miami Herald's Deputy Multimedia Presentation Editor. In 2009, he managed MiamiHerald.com site redesign in 2009 and was responsible for the conceptualization, creative direction and visual look of MiamiHerald.com. He was The Miami Herald's graphics editor from 2004 to mid-2007.

Prior to joining the Miami Herald, Cheung was a Senior Graphics Editor at The Wall Street Journal. During his eight-year tenure at WSJ, he produced graphics for WSJ's front page one, Marketplace and National sections, helped launch the Personal Journal section and assisted with the 2002 redesign of paper.

Cheung served on the board of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA). He was the National AAJA convention co-chair in Miami 2007 and programming chair for the past three years. He co-developed the AAJA ELP demonstration project in New York City. A hyperlocal news blog focused on Chinatown. (http://www.OurChinatown.org). He will be the programming chair for the Unity convention in 2012.

Cheung, a 2007 Newspaper Association of America Breakthrough fellow, graduated from New York University where he studied journalism, sociology, science and photography.

Twitter: @pcheung630

Email: paul@newspanion.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/paulcheung630
Daniel is a Senior Graphic Designer at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He has a long career of graphic design and occasional web development. He has worked at agencies, large corporations and plenty of other entities.

For Newspanion, Daniel is the Visual Director. He contributed major components to the overall product, but he also helped bring the Newspanion brand to life.

Email: daniel@newspanion.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/danieldigitally

Alex
Andrew
Paul
Daniel

Get in touch with us!