New ‘Netnuus’ app serves up Afrikaans news

Cape Town - Media24’s digital publishing arm 24.com has launched a new Afrikaans news app dubbed ‘Netnuus’ for Android and Apple smartphone users.

The app delivers the day’s most important news highlights, which is selected by an expert editorial team, said 24.com in a statement.

The app further offers push alert notifications while users can log in via their Facebook accounts.

In terms of content, the app offers an aggregation of important news and “focuses on giving users as much information as possible in a simplified manner”, said 24.com.

“Netnuus fills the gap for a quick and consumer friendly news app in Afrikaans that will give users instant and up to date information and the opportunity to engage with the news,” said 24.com product editor MJ Lourens.

“Not everyone is interested in lengthy analysis on the Guptas but they do want to know if they are back in South Africa.  

“This app is perfect for these users who want their news delivered in digestible bites – quickly and accurately,” added Lourens.

Lourens said the app further provides advertisers with access to “Afrikaans speaking news junkies”.

“Plus it gives advertisers access to Afrikaans speaking news junkies – people who are actively interested the latest information in news, sports and business.”

Explaining the technology behind the app, 24.com’s mobile solutions architect, Michael Hancock, said his development team are among the first in South Africa to use Facebook’s React Native.

Facebook turned its React Native tool into an open source project last year for Apple iOS and Android devices.

The software is intended to speed up the process of making sophisticated native smartphone applications.

“While developing the NetNuus application, we wanted to try out something new that we have never done before,” said Hancock.

“We used Facebook’s React Native tech to build a cross-platform app for Android and iOS that is quick, seamless and a great user experience” added Hancock.