There is a reason why I would never use such service like Prismatic. The main problem for me here is that it creates a confined universe for you where you are surrounded by only "relevant" information. For example I don't care much about fashion, but once in a while reading NY Times I stumble upon a very interesting articles about new trends in fashion or its history. It makes me think out of the box and expands my knowledge. There is no way a service like Prismatic would provide me with such articles based on my interests.
You are bucketing Prismatic with "other services" without trying it or understanding what it does. Give it a shot, I think you'll find that it is designed to increase those serendipitous finds, not to filter signal from noise.
Nobody confines you to reading only articles surfaced by Prismatic. (and it does a great job btw)
If you could choose between universe where you don't have Prismatic and another where you have the option of using it, you'd seriously prefer the former?
