» MSNBC Newsbot Looms Dvorak Uncensored: General interest observations and true web-log.

Published on August 1st, 2004

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MSNBC Newsbot
Last week Microsoft unveiled the beta test of its new Google-killer newsbot service to compete with Google News. This isn’t going to work and the reason is because of simple conflict of interest. MSNBC HAS a news site and the bean-counters will not like a new site with a lot of links to Cnet and ABC where the articles may actually be better. To keep the bean-counters at bay the MSNBC hits will appear at the top and that will make the service look like a scam to users. There is no way to win if this bot is part of the MSNBC nexis. It has to be a seperate entity. “Jenkins, why are we linking to ABC and CBS? They are the enemy! What are you thinking?!”

A new way to find news

The MSNBC Newsbot (beta), powered by MSN Search Technology, is an experimental, automated news service. Newsbot gathers news from over 4,800 sources on the Internet to speed your discovery of the information you care about most. Enter a topic, interest, or news story you want to learn more about and MSNBC Newsbot will bring you up-to-the-minute coverage from around the Internet. Newsbot is built on advanced computer algorithms to determine which stories and photos are most relevant, most popular, and to recommend stories to individual readers based on their interests.

9 users responded in " MSNBC Newsbot Looms "

# 1 James Dermitt said, on August 1st, 2004 at 8:37 am

Maybe Microsoft can get a cable deal going with CBS and launch MSBS.

# 4 otherlandstrongman said, on August 1st, 2004 at 1:44 pm

test, why is this comment add not working?

# 5 otherlandstrongman said, on August 1st, 2004 at 1:44 pm

Try it again I will!

# 6 James Dermitt said, on August 1st, 2004 at 3:48 pm

Lets reverse this John, and say Google hooks up with CBS, CNN, ABC, FOX and even offers NBC a deal, along with any other major or minor news outlet out there. Each channel gets a branded spot on the Google News page. CBS goes for it, CNN is in and ABC likes this a says we’ll Google and PBS jumps on it. Now NBC is odd man out, since MSNBC has a anti-Google newsbot. The plan moves ahead and now Google News has Google Audio and Video and the resources of CBS, CNN and ABC, plus all important PBS. Google News now has a critical mass of users, who are coming from CBS, CNN, PBS and ABC. Google now uses this new traffic and makes itself more attractive for all the newspapers looking for readers. Now Google has this Google Local site, which is now running, http://local.google.com/ which works with Google News and then you have Google Local News. All Google does is organize the directories and the newspapers along with broadcasters decide what goes in which category, no bot required.

The news is very well organized. When it comes down to the wire, you can’t take people out of the loop and have stories worth a damn. Like politics, all news is local at the end of the day. If the big networks can use the Google Directories and Google Local effectively, it is better for them, their local affiliates and in the end the consumers.

So MSNBC is now the anti-Google news bot indexing the Web for news, being attacked by viruses and spreading fear among the locals. The formula for success in the news business isn’t a big secret. Tell it like it is and the people will decide what is important. No bot can do that.

Gmail should help automate news delivery and work well with Google News http://gmail.google.com/ This should make a personalized news gmail easier to achieve, if that is what people want in the morning.

# 7 Ed Campbell said, on August 1st, 2004 at 9:46 pm

John, looks like you need bigger print, somewhere, explaining to folks that the site administrator gets to peep at postings before they’re actually allowed online.

Not a criticism of folks repeating their posts — as trials. I just fell into the same trap when another site [that I visit, frequently] turned on the software switch that ended instant display under “recent comments” to let the editors examine content before appropriate posting. I and several others sent letters letting the editors know of the sudden appearance of a “bug” — that turned out to be a procedural decision.

# 8 Christopher Coulter said, on August 1st, 2004 at 10:50 pm

Look like a scam to users? You mean the less than 3% of population, the geeky bloggers, who care about such hand-wringing purist matters? It’s their news search engine, they can slant, or not slant it, anyway they want. And insofar as the news links are relevant, most people don’t care about the ordering. It is only when placements interefere with the revelancy of the searches, that the system breaks down. Obviously, a news search engine that is part of a Media Empire will stack the deck in their favor. Ultimately, it all depends on the marketshare.

# 9 John C. Dvorak said, on August 1st, 2004 at 11:44 pm

YES! I have to make it more known that this is moderated. But meanwhile I’m a little concerned about the megalinks that float past the barriers…I’ll be working on the design this week.

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