The Web’s First Subject-Centric News Portals for Groups Now Available at Congoo^® News Circles™

BRANCHBURG, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Congoo™, a free premium information network, today announced the launch of News Circles™, the first platform where users can easily select from hundreds of news categories to build and share custom news portals. The service includes tools for blogging and sharing thoughts with a specific group of users in a public or private forum – all in a matter of minutes and at no charge. The debut of News Circles™ comes on the heels of the development of Congoo News, which taps over 25,000 free news sources and offers limited free access to subscription content from over 300 premium outlets through Congoo’s patented technology.

According to Pew Internet, 50 million Americans turn to the Internet every day for their news and browse multiple sites to consume news on different topics. Unlike many other news and bookmarking sites, News Circles™ lets each user decide precisely what news subjects are important, eliminating the need to browse multiple sites. Congoo uses proprietary clustering technology to efficiently group subject-related news articles from various sources into story groups, minimizing the redundancy of information typical with multiple RSS feeds.

“News Circles™ empowers people to create information update mechanisms for themselves and their teams,” said Ash Nashed, founder of Congoo. “Whether they’re using it socially, professionally, or to share a common interest, we’re the first that we know of to add the ability to build such a comprehensive, yet focused news portal in minutes.”

The platform is ideal for business users and their clients, educators, students, activists and enthusiasts. Everyone from professionals seeking to market their business and build an audience, to the casual user who wants to chat about a specific interest with others, can quickly publish their own News Circle™ in their own unique way.

“Professionals who are short on time but want a continuous, up-to-date dialog with their selected audience will find News Circles™ especially useful,” said Nashed. “If you want to reach new customers, tell people about your expertise, comment about news in your industry, or do some social networking about a specific topic, News Circles™ lets you do that without spending lots of time writing and updating a blog.”

“Building a News Circle™ literally took me just two minutes,” said David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR. “We’re witnessing the intersection of social media and news sharing. With News Circles™, there is no longer a tyranny of news sharing being only for the technologically literate.”

“As a busy professional, I’m much more interested in news on specific industries and subjects which are relevant to my personal and professional life,” said Rafael Cosentino, VP Business Development at Congoo. “We designed News Circles to provide the type of service we wanted for ourselves but couldn’t find anywhere.”

News Circles™ will also allow users to monitor over 100,000 daily news stories for articles containing their own list of keywords. A number of additional customizable features and sharing tools are in the works, as well.

To select from hundreds of categories and create a custom news portal in less than 60 seconds, individuals can simply visit www.congoo.com

About Congoo

Congoo’s mission is to help information seekers find and access the Web’s most valuable information. Using patented technology and in collaboration with the world’s most respected publishers, the Congoo Service creates a free bridge that spans the divide between premium subscription services and the mass of information available on the free Web. Congoo’s technology unlocks hundreds of these subscription content sources without having a paid subscription allowing users to sample a variety of otherwise subscription-only content. The free Congoo service delivers content to users in the form of Search, News, and email via industry briefings and news alerts. Congoo is the only service that gives users free access to many of the Web’s top subscription-only sites.