Tool for journalists: Mix, an online portfolio for sharing and curating your favourite articles

photo by appstore

What is it? An online platform for curating news articles from around the web, and uploading your own.

How is it of use to journalists?

Building your brand online is a necessity in the digital age. Whether you are applying for a journalism post, funding for your next project, or simply trying to grab an editor's attention, providing examples of your work is an invaluable way to prove your worth.

There are many portfolio and publishing platforms available online which allow journalists to showcase what they are made of, but many of them simply showcase them, with little to no interaction at all.

Mix, the social media site formerly known as StumbleUpon, aims to help reporters and other users discover news content they would not otherwise have come across, while showcasing their own work.

The idea is that news stories, video features or blogs are curated into 'collections', that can be made and followed by users on the site – getting more eyeballs on your work.

My Mix profile, click to check it out

So, how do you get started?

Start by creating your own portfolio by signing in with your Facebook, Twitter or Google details. Note that StumbleUpon logins are not valid here, so you will have to create a new account with Mix.

The tool will then ask you to choose three or more interests, or 'collections' to get you started. On your desktop view, you will then see articles related to those topics from a range of publishers.

Use the 'Explore' function at the top of the page to search for individual topics, news stories or subjects that you are interested in.

The 'For you' newsfeed will generate mixed results based on your follows and uploads, and the 'explore' newsfeed will generate a random set of results for you to stumble upon.

To upload your own content, click the orange plus icon in the upper-right corner of your screen.

Mix will ask you to paste the URL from each individual article into the text bar, before adding it to a new collection, that you name yourself, or to another collection on Mix already. You can also add articles into multiple categories.

You can also install the Firefox or Chrome extension to add an article to their Mix profile from the original webpage, just by clicking the icon. Additionally, the Mix app on iOS and Google Play, allow you to post on-the-go.

On your personal profile, you will see the articles you have uploaded and 'collected' from around the web.

Share these clicking the share icon within an individual collection. Here, you can share the link to Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or via email.

Check out my Mix profile here, where you can follow me and see the articles that I have added to my collection.

Inside the Mix app - explore, profile, extension set-up and safari browser

Joanne Kapp, strategic partnerships manager at Mix, explained that the community aspect of the tool is integral to user experience, so the tool may soon be able to start awarding its frequent users.

“Community is important in fuelling content discovery and we’re building a community from scratch," she explained.

"With new features like collections, profile pages, social components, and curator tools, we'll be equipped with the right features to surface our curators, experts and people in this community.”

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