Summify
{{Short description|Defunct social news aggregator}}
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{{Infobox website
| name = Summify
| logo = Summify-logo-72dpi.png
| logo_size = 215px
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| company_type =
| foundation =
| founder = {{unbulleted list|Mircea Paşoi|Cristian Strat}}
| location = Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| locations =
| area_served = Worldwide
| key_people =
| industry = {{unbulleted list|News aggregation|Social media}}
| products =
| services =
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| num_employees =
| url = {{URL|http://summify.com/}}
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| launch_date =
| current_status = Discontinued
}}
Summify was a social news aggregator founded by Mircea Paşoi and Cristian Strat, two former Google and Microsoft interns from Romania.{{Cite news |last=Lewis |first=Rob |date=March 30, 2011 |title=Vancouver's Summify filters the social web and raises a seed round |url=http://www.techvibes.com/blog/vancouvers-summify-filters-the-social-web-and-raises-a-seed-round-2011-03-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110401203903/http://www.techvibes.com/blog/vancouvers-summify-filters-the-social-web-and-raises-a-seed-round-2011-03-30 |archive-date=April 1, 2011 |work=TechVibes}}{{Cite web |title=Summify Team |url=http://summify.com/team/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180108170839/http://summify.com/team/ |archive-date=January 8, 2018 |website=Summify}} The service emailed its users a periodic summary of news articles shared from their social networks based on their relevance and importance.Brillson, Leila. [http://www.switched.com/2011/03/31/summify-distills-your-news-into-five-bites-of-personalized-net Summify Distills Your News Into Five Bites of Personalized ‘Net Goodness] Switched. March 31, 2011. The platform supported Twitter, Facebook, and Google Reader accounts.{{Cite web |last=Gastall |first=Tom |date=April 4, 2011 |title=Summify launches, receives first round of Funding |url=http://www.startupgazette.com/2011/04/summify-launches-receives-first-round-of-funding/ |website=StartupGazette |access-date=July 4, 2011 |archive-date=April 8, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110408093233/http://www.startupgazette.com/2011/04/summify-launches-receives-first-round-of-funding/ |url-status=dead }}
History
In 2009, Paşoi and Strat created ReadFu, a plugin that provided a contextual summary and statistics of the target page of a hyperlink.{{Cite web |date=December 15, 2009 |title=Hello World! |url=http://blog.summify.com/post/284721711/hello-world |website=Summify}}{{dead link|date=May 2024}} In January 2010, ReadFu was accepted into the Vancouver-based start-up incubator Bootup Labs.{{Cite news |last=Mann |first=Boris |date=December 18, 2009 |title=New Companies for Jan 2010 |url=http://blog.bootuplabs.com/2009/12/18/new-companies-for-jan-2010/ |work=Bootup Labs |access-date=July 4, 2011 |archive-date=December 19, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091219230655/http://blog.bootuplabs.com/2009/12/18/new-companies-for-jan-2010/ |url-status=dead }} On March 20, 2010 the service was renamed to Summify and a private beta began.{{Cite web |last=Lewis |first=Rob |date=2021-11-29 |title=Bootup's Summify renames and launches beta - 25 invites available |url=http://www.techvibes.com/blog/bootups-summify-renames-and-launches-beta-25-invites-available |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402200311/http://www.techvibes.com/blog/bootups-summify-renames-and-launches-beta-25-invites-available |archive-date=April 2, 2016 |access-date= |website=TechVibes |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=ReadFu becomes Summify |url=http://blog.summify.com/post/459896262/readfu-becomes-summify |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100401073004/http://blog.summify.com/post/459896262/readfu-becomes-summify |archive-date=April 1, 2010 |website=Summify}}{{Cite web |title=Summify in Private Beta |url=http://blog.summify.com/post/469721962/summify-in-private-beta |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100403011646/http://blog.summify.com/post/469721962/summify-in-private-beta |archive-date=April 3, 2010 |website=Summify}}
On August 11, 2010 Paşoi and Strat announced a new direction for the service. It would become a real-time social news reader that aggregates incoming news from social networks and displays articles by importance using social reactions.Lewis, Rob. [https://brainstation.io/magazine/summify-pivots-into-social-new-reader Summify pivots into Social News Reader] TechVibes. August 25, 2010.{{Cite web |title=Hold on, Summify is back! |url=http://blog.summify.com/post/938300069/hold-on-summify-is-back |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100815061526/http://blog.summify.com/post/938300069/hold-on-summify-is-back |archive-date=August 15, 2010 |website=Summify}}Cosinschi, Eugenia. [https://venturebeat.com/2010/08/24/social-news-reader-summify-raises-funds-to-solve-information-overload/ Social news-reader Summify raises funds to solve information overload] VentureBeat. August 24, 2010.{{Cite news |date=October 27, 2010 |title=Sprouter Weekly |url=http://sprouter.com/weekly/2010-10-27 |work=Sprouter |access-date=2011-07-04 |archive-date=2011-08-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811075340/http://sprouter.com/weekly/2010-10-27 |url-status=dead }} After some feedback that the users preferred article digests by email more than the real-time news reader version, Summify discontinued the news reader version.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}
In March 2011, Summify completed a Seed round, with investors including Rob Glaser, Accel Partners, and Stewart Butterfield.{{Cite web |title=Less Stories, More Funding! |url=http://blog.summify.com/post/4211150644/less-stories-more-funding |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110402151028/http://blog.summify.com/post/4211150644/less-stories-more-funding |archive-date=April 2, 2011 |website=Summify}}{{Cite news |last=Lewsi |first=Rob |date=August 24, 2010 |title=Vancouver's Summify lands seed round from W Media Ventures |url=http://www.techvibes.com/blog/vancouvers-summify-lands-seed-round-from-w-media-ventures |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304210307/http://www.techvibes.com/blog/vancouvers-summify-lands-seed-round-from-w-media-ventures |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |work=TechVibes}}Cook, John. [http://www.geekwire.com/2011/exmicrosoft-google-interns-launch-summify-cash-rob-glaser Ex-Microsoft and Google interns launch Summify, with cash from Rob Glaser and others] GeekWire. March 30, 2011.
Summify received coverage from various news and media outlets such as TechCrunch. It was also featured in various news platforms, such as Time, The Globe and Mail, Mashable, VentureBeat, Gizmodo, Lifehacker, and The Next Web.McMillan, Graeme.[https://techland.time.com/2011/03/31/exhausted-by-social-media-let-summify-read-the-internet-for-you/ Exhausted by Social Media? Let Summify Read the Internet for You]Time Techland. March 31, 2011.{{Cite news |last=Friesen |first=Joe |date=July 7, 2011 |title=Immigrant tech stars face hurdles in quest to start business in Canada |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/immigrant-tech-stars-face-hurdles-in-quest-to-start-business-in-canada/article2090504/comments |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711134145/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/immigrant-tech-stars-face-hurdles-in-quest-to-start-business-in-canada/article2090504/ |archive-date=July 11, 2011 |work=The Globe and Mail}}{{Cite web |last=Kessler |first=Sarah |date=March 30, 2011 |title=Overwhelmed By News? Summify Picks The Top 5 Articles You Should Read |url=http://mashable.com/2011/03/30/summify/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110423021402/http://mashable.com/2011/03/30/summify/ |archive-date=April 23, 2011 |website=Mashable}}Chan, Casey. [https://gizmodo.com/5787325/summify-gives-you-5-articles-to-read-a-day-based-on-your-internet-habits Summify Gives You 5 Articles to Read a Day Based on Your Internet Reading Habits] Gizmodo. March 30, 2011.Gordon, Whitson. [http://lifehacker.com/5787962/summify-sends-you-the-days-5-most-important-stories-based-on-your-reading-habits Summify Sends You the Day’s 5 Most Important Stories, Based on Your Reading Habits] Lifehacker. April 1, 2011.Hussey, Tris. [https://thenextweb.com/news/catch-up-on-the-news-with-summify-we-have-invite-codes Catch Up On the News With Summify. We Have Invite Codes!] The Next Web. October 24, 2010.
Summify released a free app on the Apple App Store on July 8, 2011.{{Cite web |title=Summify Launches iPhone App |url=http://blog.summify.com/post/7381180505/summify-iphone-app |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711133747/http://blog.summify.com/post/7381180505/summify-iphone-app |archive-date=July 11, 2011 |website=Summify}}{{Cite news |last=Lewis |first=Rob |date=July 8, 2011 |title=Summify launches iPhone App but will its founders stay in Canada? |url=http://www.techvibes.com/blog/summify-launches-iphone-app-but-will-its-founders-stay-in-canada-2011-07-08 |work=TechVibes |access-date=2011-07-09 |archive-date=2011-07-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713045902/http://www.techvibes.com/blog/summify-launches-iphone-app-but-will-its-founders-stay-in-canada-2011-07-08 |url-status=dead }} The app allowed users to read their web summaries from iOS mobile devices.
Summify was acquired by Twitter on January 19, 2012. The service shut down soon after, on June 22, 2012.{{cite web|last=Bishop|first=Bryan|title=Summify going offline June 22nd; accounts tied to Twitter will receive daily summary emails|url=https://www.theverge.com/2012/5/24/3041983/summify-going-offline-june-22nd|publisher=The Verge|accessdate=17 July 2012|date=24 May 2012}}
References
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External links
- [http://www.summify.com official website]
- [http://blog.summify.com official blog]
- [https://twitter.com/summify Summify on Twitter]
- [http://www.facebook.com/summify Summify on Facebook]
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Category:Online mass media companies of Canada
Category:Internet properties established in 2009
Category:Twitter, Inc. acquisitions
Category:2012 mergers and acquisitions
Category:2009 establishments in British Columbia
Category:2012 disestablishments in British Columbia
Category:Canadian companies established in 2009