Longform.org
Computer people like to talk about the "killer app". By "killer app" they generally mean the one thing that a device or application does that will make it valuable to a large number of people. Or the one additional thing that when added makes both indispensable. VisiCalc for the Apple 2 is one of the more iconic examples of a killer app. VisiCalc, an early piece of spreadsheet software, is credited with driving sales of the Apple 2 particularly in the lucrative business market and turning a hobby device into a essential for many organizations. In a previous post I wrote about a web service called Instapaper, here I'd like to suggest that Longform.org is the killer app for Instapaper.
Longform.org's dual mission is to both promote the art of long form or narrative journalism and to give previously published articles a second chance to be seen. Longform.org provides a place where users can suggest excellent pieces of long form journalism new and old, the best of which are selected and indexed on the site. Longform.org doesn't contain or display the articles themselves but provides a link to where the article can be found online. Enter Instapaper. Along with a link to the original article, each entry also contains a special Instapaper link which instantly pulls the article from the page, saving it to your Instapaper account.
By building in Instapaper, Longform.org's creativity has made what would have been an excellent "best of" blog into a menu for a centuries worth of quality journalism.
note: Instapaper itself has an "editors picks" section which operates in much the same fashion as Longform, however articles are selected based on the number of Instapaper users saving them.
2 thoughts on “Longform.org”
Both your Instapaper and this Longform article are fascinating, Ian. I love narrative journalism! I’ll have to check out both sites when I get some time over the holidays.
Thanks, Instapaper is a great tool. I’m not sure I fully subscribe to Carr’s distraction hypothesis but I must admit I really do feel the reading experience is vastly improved by Instapaper.
I discovered Longform while looking for an alternative to hunting through the New Yorker site for interesting things to read. Love the New Yorker but hate their site, I feel as though they’re intentionally making it hard to find things. Anyway, I was stunned when I found Longform, it was exactly what I wanted. It was so good I was certain it was going to disappear, sued into oblivion by the publishing industry. So far it hasn’t and the founders of both Longform and Instapaper insist that they have a very positive relationship many major publishers.