THE NEWS WRAP: Twitter tries out a news tab

Twitter is rolling out a ‘news’ tab aiming to collate its best content and make it more accessible for new users.

A new tab has appeared on the navigation panel for some users in the US and Japan, and it takes you to a list of trending headlines showing an image, text and the top tweets discussing it.

Twitter is increasingly focusing on the breaking news aspect of the site, with the imminent introduction of live tweets curation too.

These platforms could also make it easier to more discreetly incorporate advertisements than the usually conspicuous sponsored tweets.

“We’re experimenting with a news experience on iOS and Android as we continue to explore new ways to surface the best content for users,” a Twitter spokesperson told The Verge.

Reddit continues to grow despite controversies

It seems being constantly embroiled in controversy has only help Reddit grow, with page views jumping by 9% in July.

As TechCrunch reports, the site had eight billion page views in the month thanks to 195 million visitors.

From the outside, July was a horror month for Reddit, with the sacking of a popular employee, the departure of its interim CEO and user backlash following the announcement of new moderation policies.

But it looks like this controversy has only attracted people to the site.

Microsoft buys gamification platform for sales teams

Microsoft has acquired Incent Games, the company behind FantasySalesTeam, a gamification platform designed to incentivise sales teams.

The startup was founded in 2012, and brings the popular format of fantasy sports to the enterprise realm.

“The benefits of this creative and popular feature will soon be available for our customers to help them incentivise their sales teams to new heights and better results,” corporate vice president of Microsoft Dyanmics Bob Stutz says in a blog post.

“FantasySalesTeam represents the best of an entrepreneurial spirit that takes a wholly fresh look at age old challenges and delivers a unique, original and innovative answer.”

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 91.66, falling 0.52% overnight to 17,598.20. The Australian dollar is currently trading at US73 cents.

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