TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cronycle (discontinued)

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/ACronycle was market intelligence platform for market research, product innovation, and sales enablement teams. It enabled discovery of a variety of data (including articles, documents, conversations, and more) from top experts across 80,000 topics, delivering relevant content that users need to know about. The service has been discontinued.N/A

    Shorthand

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AShorthand enables the user to create interactive multimedia stories for any online audience — all with no code. The vendor boasts that Shorthand is used by hundreds of publishers, brands, non-profits, and more — including the BBC, Honda, Business Insider, and Doctors Without Borders.N/A
    Pricing
    Cronycle (discontinued)Shorthand
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cronycle (discontinued)Shorthand
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cronycle (discontinued)Shorthand
    Considered Both Products
    Discontinued Products
    No answer on this topic
    Shorthand
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    11 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    11 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    11 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    10 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    11 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Cronycle (discontinued)Shorthand
    Content Creation
    Comparison of Content Creation features of Cronycle (discontinued) and Shorthand
    Feature
    Cronycle (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    Shorthand
    9.0
    1 Ratings
    14% above category average
    Content collaboration00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Content Publishing
    Comparison of Content Publishing features of Cronycle (discontinued) and Shorthand
    Feature
    Cronycle (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    Shorthand
    6.8
    1 Ratings
    14% below category average
    Content hub00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Embedded CTAs00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Content distribution00 Ratings6.01 Ratings
    Content promotion00 Ratings5.01 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cronycle (discontinued)Shorthand
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    Contently
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    HG Insights Platform
    Score9.2 out of 10
    CoSchedule Marketing Suite
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    HG Insights Platform
    Score9.2 out of 10
    PathFactory
    Score8.3 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cronycle (discontinued)Shorthand
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.7
    (11 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cronycle (discontinued)Shorthand
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Discontinued Products
    Prior to adopting Cronycle, our research team had a variety of different ways in which they would discover, store
    and share information. These methods were often inconsistent, with many smaller
    teams or sub-groups of researchers operating independently of others. In many cases, content that was potentially useful to more than one
    colleague was not being shared at all. We had thousands of different sources,
    accessed through varying methods and stored in different locations/systems, and
    very few colleagues would have had an idea of which sources other team members
    were using. Furthermore, we became aware as a team that while between us we
    were pulling in a lot of information, much of what was being discovered was not
    necessarily being acted upon, or indeed being read by the colleague to whom it
    was most relevant. We also needed to become more targeted, and indeed more
    selective, in the information we were seeing, and Cronycle -specifically through the Sources Library, the Feeds, and the tagging and notification functionality - has enabled us to do
    just this. There has been a genuinely transformative outcome to our information gathering ability, borne out by specific metrics, which Cronycle has also provided us with via the Enterprise account.
    Read full review
    Shorthand
    Shorthand is ideally suited to visual stories where you have a good number of images and/or embeds or video to include. It is well-suited to long-form stories, where you wish to keep the readers' attention longer than usual. It can help to differentiate particularly important or intriguing stories from others on your website - and for this reason, it could be used as a premium content tool, perhaps for subscribers. It can also be used to showcase stories about awards you've organised, giving them special treatment. It is less suited to breaking news, or very time-sensitive news stories, as it can take some time to prepare, post or update shorthand stories. And it doesn't work well for stories with strong accompanying imagery
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Discontinued Products
    • relevant, spot-on content to any of the 80.000 topics they curate.
    • Content curation, quickly assemble insights from a multitude of sources
    • collaborating, commenting, and creating insights around any of the topics you focus on with a team is a breeze, and in one central place.
    Read full review
    Shorthand
    • Enabling visual storytelling with multiple pictures
    • Embedding rich media within a story, including video
    • Engaging readers for longer than average dwell times
    • Making it easy to create striking article design without coding experience
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Discontinued Products
    • For some reason logging on for a few months does not go as easy as usual, because nowadays I need a least two attempts to log in.
    • I think I do only use the core functionality of Cronycle: getting indication info by keywords via multiple sites.
    • Vice versa: if people come to me with a suspected issue, I double-check via Cronycle by entering that issue as search in found results. A low occurrence often indicates the suspected issue likely is not so severe.
    Read full review
    Shorthand
    • Additional flexibility in how text is overlaid on pictures would be welcome so that there are more choices on what images to use with particular layouts
    • Enabling users to control the path of text - for example, enabling runaround - could enable some excellent designs
    • Adding additional section templates could speed up design
    • More flexibility in caption placement would be helpful
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Shorthand
    I have never known it to be down during my use of it. All you require is an internet connection to log in and you can use it on multiple devices. Adding ease of accessibility, there are simple ways to log in. I've also never known a Shorthand story to go down once live on our site.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Shorthand
    Due to the integration with our content management software, there is a short delay on our site while it loads, which may cause some readers to drift away. However, I've seen other sites where it instantly loads articles, so I believe this to be down to the content management software behind our site more than Shorthand itself. Once that brief initial period is over, it doesn't require additional loading time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Discontinued Products
    Any issues with the platform have always been resolved quickly. I have never previously worked with a third party software provider whose support team is as responsive.
    Read full review
    Shorthand
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Discontinued Products
    Hootsuite publication prep and scheduling is great, better than Cronycl (a manual process) Cronycl management of feeds, filtering creation of topical boards are excellent, Hootsuite doesn't offer this. Cronycle I find it easier, more attractive, and better filtering than Buffer, though Buffer was slightly better at the publication prep.
    Read full review
    Shorthand
    No answers on this topic
    Scalability
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Shorthand
    As a web-based service, it is easy for users to log into from anywhere. Content can easily be shared, as you can set up teams that enable access to each other's work as required. And content can be reviewed by others before publication using the sharing function. You can also view how an article will look on different devices.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Discontinued Products
    • Cronycle is my secret superpower (well, it was until now!)
    • I have landed and retained clients by wowing them with insights their own teams have not previously provided
    • I have aced speaking gigs and secured many more by engaging audiences with insights gained through this tool
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Shorthand
    • Helped us create one of our top 10 most-read and most-shared stories in the last year
    • Enabled us to elevate key pieces of content, boosting dwell time on our site
    • But can also be time-consuming to adopt for some stories, meaning you need to choose well what stories really deserve the investment in time
    • Boosted collaboration between teams via its ability to share, including offering the chance for others to preview content prior to publication
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Shorthand Screenshots

    Screenshot of Easily add sections and adjust styling.