For someone who’s been thinking about news, writing algorithms that mine the most relevant stories, the most relevant sources, bring news to one’s taste, clustering related articles together – dreaming the perfect news product is not a far cry. I’ve often asked myself, “how should the perfect news product be”? To answer this, I asked myself – Why do people read news?

I am not alone in asking this. Many others have compiled excellent opinions about this “need”. Here’s an article - http://harvardpolitics.com/online/hprgument-blog/why-bother-to-read-the-news/

People attribute reading the news to:

a) Its a civic duty to know about society

b) Its fun

c) They get something to talk about

d) They want to figure how public events are going to affect lives (or if they will).

I believe reading news can be attributed to the need to stay aware. Let me side step here. Why do people fear darkness? Its because they are not aware of their surroundings, and they are uncertain about the near future. Now, not knowing whats happening in the world can be attributed to “staying in the dark”. What if something happening somewhere can affect us in a way that we did not anticipate? People want to read news because they want to be in the know.

When I was first interning at Google, and was just about to start my work there – I had a few moments with two visionaries – Krishna Bharat (who had created ), and Lalitesh Katragadda (who was jointly heading the Bangalore office). I asked them, “So why is a news product important?”. To this Lalitesh answered, “News is where the world changes. By creating algorithms that understand news, you are trying to understand how the world is changing“.

Two powerful concepts: News is about the need to stay aware. News is about change in the world.

A few years later, Zuckerberg made a famous statement. “A squirrel dying in front of your house may be more relevant to your interests right now than people dying in Africa.” News suddenly had more context. Social news was just coming. Facebook and Twitter quickly filled the gap to keep you aware with happenings in your social and interest circles.

News got context – social, local and interests. News in social circles is less about how the world is changing, but more about how “my world” is changing. My friends getting married. Having babies. Traveling places. Adding birthdays.

Now, news is about the need to stay aware. News is about change in the world, and change in my world.

With big mainstream publishers, niche ones, industry journals, hobby specialists, social network walls, news aggregators, personalized news readers, rss feed syndicators – you may think the news space is completely served. But let me ask you, Is awareness well served?

Maybe you should ask yourself the question, “Am I aware with what matters to me now?”.

- Given that I am writing this now, what should I be aware of?

- Given that I am meeting a potential investor tomorrow, what should I be aware of?

- Given that I have just spent the day firefighting with a database, what should I be aware of?

Awareness – the need that news is meant to serve, is not fully served if your current, recent past and near future is not considered. This space is up for grabs. This is an era of “awareness products” that are just coming up.

I just got this email from someone. What should I know? Perhaps his professional profile? What was the last conversation I had with him? Do I know someone who knows him? Thats awareness. Rapportive and LinkedIn serve this need.

I have this meeting in 30 minutes. This meeting is 6 miles away. What should I be aware of? “To leave now, else I’d be late”. Google Now serves this need.

Lets turn to awareness when I am reading on the web. I just got to know about this site called Vizify.com, which makes fantastic profiles of you based on your social profiles. One click. Here’s mine: https://www.vizify.com/bharath-kumar-mohan. Now that I am on Vizify.com, what should I be aware of?

- How old is this product?

- How many people have been using this service?

- Does anyone I know already use this?

- Has it been in the news lately?

I want to be able to drill down from there. I want to quench my thirst for awareness there. Can this be satisfied?

So I am walking up the stairs of my office. I have a meeting with this community manager candidate. What should I be aware of?

- What companies has she worked with?

- What are the new best practices for online communications? Do I ensure if she knows them?

- Do I know someone I can get a reference from?

I want to be able to look up information based on what is important to me, right now.

If news is about awareness, then awareness is about staying informed when it matters. Are we ready for awareness products in our lives?

We are certainly trying hard to do the perfect news product. At pugmarks.me.