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With
the Zipper local news and local gossip app, we created
the ability to filter not only what you read but what
you write about with the use of Channels. Think of
channels as arraying zips specific to certain
categories. There's going to be a lot of information on
the zip so it's nice to slice and dice according to what
you want to find whether it's something serious
(traffic) or just for fun (how about gossip). We should
probably start with the big poppa of all categories,
News since this app is called the local news app after
all!
First, how do you access different channels such as
local news? It's easy. You'll see two drop downs up
top that will open the now very familiar pinwheel scroll
effect. One says Channel and the other says Location.
They'll likely be set to all as default which captures
all zips regardless of what their focus is. Now to
focus down a bit. You just flip the wheel to "News" and
the app will automatically filter the zips that are
posted under the News heading. Now everyone may have
different ideas of what is considered news but the
built-in ability to thumb up/down a given message keeps
things in their correct place. If a person puts an ad
or spam in the news heading, they'll get lots of thumb
downs and will quickly be relegated to the dust bin of
history! So what should we expect to find in the News
bin?
This
is the place for all local news fit to print. It can be
events going on in the area, crime stories (hopefully
you don't have too many of these), election info, you
name it. It's basically anything you would expect to
have in your newspaper under the main section (not
international or State) and especially in the local
section. It's probably the widest category outside of
"All" that's available and it's best to think of what
"News" isn't first. For example, take a look at the
other Channels which then to be more specific (gossip,
traffic, music, deals, etc) and if you don't see a
really good fit for your zip, then news is probably a
logical choice. You can always keep it under "all" but
targeting the zip to your intended audience is easy and
always the best approach which brings up a good point,
how do we write a zip within a certain Channel.
If
you're creating a Zip and you're in a Channel, the
system will automatically apply that Channel preference
to the Zip. When you're writing the original zip, you
can always hit the Channel flywheel to switch it out.
Rezips will always match the Channel of their original
Zip post. A rezip can't switch the Channel since it's
part of a thread of the original message. If you really
want to respond and feel it belongs somewhere else, just
create a new post. You can even reference the original
zip if you like.
The
News Channel is the best place for all general local
news bits with the focus on Local. With time, there may
be more Channels to add even more specification
especially the Zipper fills up with messages. The
beauty of the News Channel is that everyone becomes a
reporter on what they see, what they know, and more
importantly...what they feel. There's no better way
to do local news than from the actual local people and
the News Channel is the place to find out what's
happening.
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