CNN Purchases Zite

Popular news aggregator Zite was purchased by major cable news network CNN today, according to an announcement by Jim Walton, President of CNN Worldwide. Read on to find out what the deal means for fans of the app and its services.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, not much will change. Zite was successful without CNN's ownership or endorsement, so it makes sense to not change too much in the acquisition.

CNN plans to run Zite as an independent business. In fact, much of Zite's own corporate structure is remaining intact, only now under a new landlord. Zite still culls information from sources across the web and according to your individual interests, and the layout won't see any drastic changes.

In other words, while changes may happen down the line, it will not become a CNN-only app. CNN already has an app for that, after all. Rather, CNN will utilize the branding and its underlying technologies to its advantage in a number of areas.

General Manager of CNN, KC Estenson, stated in the press release that "Zite’s technology can also be used to help CNN's Websites and apps serve more personalized content, making our current digital services even better.” So instead of Zite becoming more like CNN, CNN wants to look under the hood of Zite and make their own products more like that.

As always, Zite remains free to download and use, and if you haven't already got it, do so now. It has a knack for finding news that will interest you that you may have never come across otherwise. You can read our March 2011 review of Zite here.