Bing Redesigns News Page to Follow Trends
September 26, 2013
The news wing at Bing seems to have adapted their curation algorithm to deliver more fluff with less substance, engadget reveals in, “Bing’s Overhauled News Layout Highlights Trending Social Topics, Rapid Downfall of Humanity.” Just as I was afraid we were in danger of paying more attention to matters of war and peace than to celebrity antics! We’ve got to keep our modern priorities straight, and Bing’s redesign should help make sure we keep our attention on the momentary instead of the momentous.
Writer Darren Murph is brief but sharp in his criticism of the change:
“You know who seems like someone well equipped to dictate what shows up on a news site? That weird guy in your Facebook feed who is way, way too vocal about his political beliefs. Blatant sarcasm aside, Bing News has overhauled its web portal in order to accomplish two primary goals: look less like Google News, and surface stories that are trending. . . . ‘The latest buzz’ from social channels will be highlighted, leaving news that actually matters to languish somewhere in the abyss. But hey, the next Casey Anthony trial is totally the most important thing ever, right?”
It is easy to blame aggregators for this sort of approach, but they are just trying to give users what we desire. Who really wants to read about serious stuff that poses real implications for all of humanity? What a downer.
It may be hard for younger folks to imagine, but there once was a time when citizens considered it a basic, personal responsibility to understand what was going on in the world so we could give sensible input to our representatives and cast informed votes. You know, intelligently participate in this democracy thing we talk so much about. Yet today we are too busy (or distracted) to give any brain power to understanding complex things. Instead, we demand the abridged versions from talking heads whose opinions we’ve been groomed to accept. Better yet, just give us some hapless public figure to rebuke. We’re really good at that.
Cynthia Murrell, September 26, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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