The Washington Post Company this morning debuted its free, personalized, social news site and aggregator Trove in public beta.
First reported to be in the works and nearing launch by The Wall Street Journal in February 2011, Trove aggregates news across subjects of interest and important headlines of the day, from more than 10,000 sources.
The news site factors in a reader’s likes and dislikes, combining algorithms with ‘expertise from the newsroom’ (news of the day selected by an editorial team).
Trove takes advantage of Facebook Connect to pull in a user’s interests as outlined by his or her Facebook profile to help jump start the personalization part of the equation.
The Washington Post promises to add more social media features and site capabilities to the mix in the coming months.
Trove is available on the desktop, Android and Blackberry phones. In a welcome letter by WashPo chairman and CEO (and Facebook board member) Don Graham, we learn that iPhone and iPad apps are also ‘coming soon’.
According to the WSJ report, the company is investing between $5 million and $10 million in the site. Note: The Washington Post acquired personal news aggregation service iCurrent back in July 2010, so we wouldn’t be surprised if a large part of the machinery behind Trove stems from that particular deal, terms of which were not disclosed. (Update: yup).
Trove, which has been in private beta since February, was created by WaPo Labs, a technology team of The Washington Post Company tasked with developing and incubating new media opportunities that is led by the company’s Chief Digital Officer Vijay Ravindran.
Ford Motor Company signed on as Trove’s exclusive launch sponsor.
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