Nozzl Media, Inc.

We’ve gotten more than 60 responses to our survey on a next-generation “newspaper,” and I wanted to share the preliminary results, which are revealing. The feature that people crave most is a filter. People want less information, not more. But they want that information to be relevant, not noise.

That’s old news, considering we’ve all known for years that the quantity of information on the Internet is overwhelming. What’s surprising is that few companies seem to be doing much about it. It’s encouraging that Twitter is finally taking a shot at the problem with its new search-oriented landing page.

Nozzl Media’s survey asked end users what features they would need in an information stream (our phrase for news feed) that is real-time mobile and local. Filtering led the pack, followed by ease of use and readability, a social/sharing aspect, and the speed of the application. Tied for next-to-last were geolocation, search, and immediacy and timeliness. Last place went to breadth of content.

The sample was small and unscientific. But the results match my anecdotal experiences from talking with Web users, reading and using the Web since its earliest days.

The latest mantra among journalists is that we need to become curators and filters of news. I agree. True, we have to keep creating original content. But it’s also crucial that we provide filters for consumers so they don’t have to wade through oceans of content to find the valuable piece they want.

Thanks, folks, for letting us know we’re apparently on the right track. If you haven’t taken the quick, 10-question survey, there’s still plenty of time to weigh in. Here’s the link: http://bit.ly/jbisx