We can’t expect the AI traffic boom to last. So Mongabay has launched a new mobile app.
Last month I wrote about how AI is affecting Mongabay traffic, contributing to surging readership of our news reporting, but also collapsing the reach of easily summarized evergreen content. In short, AI is transforming how people discover information.
While our news stories are currently benefiting from AI distribution, there’s no guarantee that will continue. For example, Google has proposed a substantial change to its Discover product that would likely dramatically reduce traffic to publishers’ sites. Google Discover is one of Mongabay’s largest sources of traffic, sending us over 5 million visitors most months.
Given the uncertainty ahead, we’re stepping up efforts to reach and engage readers directly. Accordingly, we recently rolled out new versions of our mobile apps, including our first iOS app following a long battle with Apple. Mongabay’s Willie Shubert has led the development effort.
Personalization is nothing new, but as algorithms increasingly determine what information we encounter, I think it’s important to give readers more control over what they see. Mongabay’s app allows users to select topics, regions, and formats, while the interactive map offers another way to discover stories.
So if you want to see just articles and videos about conservation solutions in the Amazon, you can do that. If you love lemurs, that’s an option as well.
We hope the apps will give you new ways to engage with our reporting, making it more useful to you.
