Bing and Google: The News Battle
September 15, 2017
I read “Bing Battles Google News with Its Own Make-Over.” I noted the alliteration: Bing battle. I immediately thought, “Google Gropes.” Both of these companies are trying to reinvent the newspaper using zeros and ones, not dead trees. Let’s look at some of the points I highlighted:
I noted this statement everyone’s most lovable online ad vendor:
Google redesigned their desktop Google News website. Their [sic] new UI has a clean and uncluttered look.
Microsoft responded. I circled this statement:
Microsoft recently updated their Bing News experience that will help users in finding the most up to date and well-rounded information.
Note that the pivot of both sentences is a subjective assertion: “Clean and uncluttered” for the GOOG, and “most up to date and well rounded.”
Some facts would be useful. I am not sure what “clean” or “uncluttered” means. My recollection is that Einstein’s desk like most “dead tree” newspapers are organized in an eclectic manner. Facts supporting these assertions might be difficult to conjure.
The “most up to date” statement should be easy to back up. What’s the latency of the system? The superlative “most” means that Bing is the top dog in news. Hmmm. I don’t buy this.
My point is that the write up provides a useful idea: Neither Bing nor Google has figured out how to present “news” to each system’s online users. The implicit idea is that “dead tree” methods are of little use. Inspiration comes from each system’s response to what the other system does.
Cold War methods applied to online “news”? That’s what the write signals me.
Let’s step back.
Online users have different reasons for wanting news. Some folks chase sports, which as I recall was the most read section of the “dead tree” newspaper company at which I once worked. Other people have quite different reasons for scanning the news; for example, there are some who read the obituaries, others seek cartoons, and others want the latest on the real housewives.
Bing and Google have to figure out how to meet these diverse needs because the “dead tree” crowd has fallen in the forest.
The write up tells me one thing: Neither Google nor Microsoft has any idea about reinventing what “dead tree” newspapers used to do.
Now what? Shape the news to fit what each company’s filters “decide” is “real news”?
Stephen E Arnold, September 15, 2017
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2 Responses to “Bing and Google: The News Battle”
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great share, thank you.
nice psot.