I guess about half of the people I follow on twitter are writers and editors for Vox, because my Twitter stream exploded last night as Ezra Klein’s new website launched.

Learning from Nate Silver’s hubris filled launch of 538, Klein tried to moderate expectations and explained that the website was ” a work in progress.”

I’m still studying the website, but my first impressions are moderately positive. They have some interesting article topics, like the challenges that low income students face in higher ed and the low crime rate in Colorado despite the availability of weed.

(It must have a lot of traffic this morning, because it’s moving incredibly slowly.)

One of the selling points for Vox is that they offer “explainers” on key political and public policy issues, like ObamaCare and the Ukraine. These explainers have some nice graphics going on, but they were a little low level for me. If I don’t know much about a topic, I usually read one or two New York Times articles and I’m good. But I might not be the demographic. Maybe younger people who find traditional media intimidating might like it.

If I teach Intro to Public Policy again, I could see using some of their info. I used to make my own PowerPoint slides that were very similar, so this would save me a step.

New York Magazine has a review.