DISQUS

Scobleizer: Why Google News has no noise

  • ravi karandeekar · 1 year ago
    Well said, Robert! For me you are noise,.... hope!
  • PSD To Wordpress · 3 months ago
    Hey there, i don't think so, what makes you say that btw!
  • markdykeman · 1 year ago
    So you might say you're a trendspotter?
  • Louis Gray · 1 year ago
    Strong summary, Robert. I bet Gabe might disagree with some of your inferences to the Techmeme methodology, but the underlying element, saying you need to subscribe to what's called "noise" in Twitter or FriendFeed is right. To me, it's not necessarily noise, but it's definitely raw. This raw data is what feeds the more polished, approved by PR, edited, summaries you'll somewhere else later.
  • Jim Connolly · 1 year ago
    Hey Robert,

    As you know, I am a BIG fan of Twitter and that's because like you, I find the 'noise' of Twitter massively valuable. I was chatting with you when the China Earthquake news broke across Twitter. It was amazing how the picture of the disaster made its way through 'the noise' - It was a little like watching a photograph develop in a darkroom!

    We are in the midst of a real change in the way that news is both broken AND reported. The coming 12 months are certainly going to be interesting (for us bloggers anyway!)


    Jim Connolly
    The Tech News Blog
  • charlieanzman · 1 year ago
    I've come full circle on this and have turned up the noise (a lot) lately. Someday, we'll have 'easy filters'. For now, it works for me in a variety of ways. Agree with Jim. The next 12 months will be VERY dynamic. There was a lot of logic to the CBS / CNET acquisition. Now, it's up to them to be 'early adopters' and make it work.
  • SearchEngines · 1 year ago
    There is one major point being missed in this argument. There is a higher standard used to filter out news because some companies are reputation based and do not want to minimize rumors from getting out of hand.

    Use the Twitter / China rumor as example. It may turn out that it was just Entertainment sites being shut down - but because of one Twitter, information about memorial sites being shut down made it to one the the most visited blogs on Technorati. Which means it will make its way to many other sources.


    We need higher standards for prestigious organizations because of their effect and footprint on society.

    Twitter is just two friends gossiping - while reputable news sources want info from reliable sources and substantiation
  • Brad · 1 year ago
    Great post Robert!

    I have to say i love the noise too. If you wait for the news to pick things up you are way behind the curve and trying to catch up. The Internet is like the stock market. The REAL money is made by the people who MADE the stock move not the guy who read about it in the Wall Street Journal.
  • Robert Scoble · 1 year ago
    SearchEngines: you missed that that post has already been updated and corrected. So anyone who repeated the early news without looking at the noise in my comments will make a huge mistake. The noise +is+ self correcting -- if you listen to the noise.
  • tommyl · 1 year ago
    There's a fairly well-dressed guy who regularly comes to the car wash next to the gym where I work out. What's interesting about him is what he does there: he goes through the garbage cans next to the car vacuum cleaners. Turns out he's look for change that people vacuum out when cleaning their cars. He's not getting rich doing it, but he finds enough to keep him coming back.

    I'm not suggesting that Scoble's talking about going through the informational garbage here. But sometimes the ratio of noise/trash to nuggets might seem like it.
  • Gabe · 1 year ago
    Great post Robert. You've put a lot behaviors we've seen from certain early adopters into context.

    Louis: indeed, some of Robert's inferences are wrong since reverse engineering Techmeme is tricky. Overall, Robert continues to be rather savvy about Techmeme.
  • Robert Scoble · 1 year ago
    Gabe is right. Reverse engineering TechMeme is indeed tricky. How many hundreds of thousands of lines of code are there? But, interesting that since this week I got Mike Arrington and crew to both fight with me and link to me I've been on TechMeme several times. :-)
  • Ken Stewart · 1 year ago
    You know Robert, this is a very interesting post. I think you hit the nail on the head. I've been feeling like there is a lot of noise all around. Between Twitter, FF, FaceBook, StumbleUpon, etc. I don't know how people who don't have full time jobs can keep up.

    I finally came to the conclusion, I'm not a noise junky, I'm a news junky. I look for useful news that is a little ahead of mainstream and attempt to apply it.

    Bottom line, you have talent in sorting the noise; I have talents in finding useful applications for news... I think I'm fine with that - at least for my own sanity!
  • JohnAtkinson · 1 year ago
    Very thought provoking concept. I never thought about there being value in noise, in this way. Now, yes, I like noise.
  • Adam · 1 year ago
    I'm voting for the News over the Noise.

    And I'm also asking: what did knowing about the Chinese earthquake minutes before other folks... contribute to your life? Seriously. Did it help you in a great way? Was it highly useful? Greatly entertaining? Extra meaningful?

    I think folks (including myself sometimes) should step back and ask: how much does what you call "noise" contribute to the overall, long-term quality of our lives? And how much does it keep us mildly entertained and too busy to follow through on meaningful, long-term products?

    You may know about the next great Web 2.0 company even days before others, but is playing with the Latest Great Thing for a few extra days going to change your life?

    Perspective. Perspective.
  • Robert Scoble · 1 year ago
    >Did it help you in a great way?

    Yes. It helped cement my reputation as being a person who is early with news. It also got me interviewed by the Associated Press, was in the BBC, and NPR is still hanging out. Not that that really matters in the grand scheme of things. The earthquake was one small example that really didn't matter to my life all that much (other than if I had relatives or friends there I would have been able to maybe get through before phone lines became jammed).

    But on being first to see new tech companies or new tech trends? That absolutely affects me and my ability to remain part of the conversation about this industry and where it's going. Plus it lets me build relationships with people who then invite me over for interviews.
  • AndyBeard · 1 year ago
    Robert one thing I think you get wrong about Techmeme, I don't think Techcrunch is the #1 vote.
  • Robert Scoble · 1 year ago
    Andy: it sure is. It's the top of TechMeme's Leader Board at http://www.techmeme.com/lb -- the algorithms treat that board more importantly than any other factor.
  • Lynn Sorel · 1 year ago
    Say what ?

    Google News: Only tracks sites that have “teams” of people working on them. That usually means there’s an organized effort. That alone blocks 99.9% of bloggers and Twitterers from even being considered.

    We have 5 authors. Each time we ask to be added in Google News, we are declined. They do not even check our News Site (even on a Google Domain). So this statement (above) is totally incorrect.

    2ndly, Google has published nudity in the Google news. We wrote about that earlier ...

    and lastly , we are about to break a story were other services offered by Google do promote sex (not intentionally to be assured). Watch for that update as well. (Yes we will provide proof)

    Techmeme is okay. Very similar to Megite as they seem to run the same stories ...

    I say one thing for Google News , each time we write about them , there is an immediate reaction from Google. Meaning : Now there is no more nudity in Google News, but we are finding it else where easily in the Google Domain.

    They are trying yes, plugging each hole as they find them (or we do). Email-ing Google is useless, it is better to write about it.

    I will try to include in our news this week where all the flaws are in Google & where. Perhaps this will spike your "NOISE" ....

    Robert, this was indeed a great story. Keep up the Good work !

    Lynn
  • ray james · 1 year ago
    i now rarely use techcrunch. at one time, it was far more useful than it is these days. unfortunately, it's filled with a lot of random and uninteresting blather. lots of techcrunch stuff where there's much bleating but precious little reporting. i prefer rss and igoogle to find out what's happening.

    too bad because gabe rivera had a good thing going for a while.
  • MiikoMentz · 1 year ago
    Well said Robert. The news is in the noise and Twitter is definitely crack!
  • T · 1 year ago
    Noise is for people with time to waste.
  • Susan Beebe · 1 year ago
    "Twitter is crack for newsmakers" = priceless!! ha, ha!

    "FriendFeed" is crack for me! (everday geek!)
  • Michael C · 1 year ago
    Scoble, you are utterly worthless. All the articles of yours and Arrington thrown my way, and not once have you added 1 lumen of insight. Seriously, it's to the point of absurdity now. If you didn't have the constant psychological need to force yourself onto everyone's radar, maybe we'd get at least something out of this social-web discussion. Of all the quality personas we've had in web leadership positions, I can't think of anyone less deserving than you (two).

    Please go on a long holiday, and discover some qualities worth sharing.
  • angsuman · 1 year ago
    I prefer selective noise over plain old news. In other words I decide which topics are of interest to me and follow only those, noise and news. That is more efficient than just noise, which can sometimes drive you crazy (at least it does that to me).
  • mal · 1 year ago
    recently i've been 'track'ing one word on twitter. design. so anytime anyone anywhere twitters anything about the design of anything i get an instant message. (getting it going is kind of quirky - but once you do it feels way more newsy than news) Perhaps as its easy to filter out the noise. there is a personal element too - not someone paid to produce fluff - but someone interested in something enough to pull out their phone and type in 140 characters while in the midst of their friends or families or board meetings... I guess the word for design is design - at least in several languages so far...

    here's a sampling:

    (wheelscore): The German Car Blog: Audi A3 Clubsport quattro: Cool design study made for W... - http://wheelscore.com/out.php?id=278161

    (designcarter): Design[grin]ivide - Markup + FTP + Terminal + More = Coda = Awesomeness!: I’ve alwa.. http://tinyurl.com/658mjc

    (ernohannink): Nieuw op HappyHouris Design kan ook gelukkig maken: Een leuke presentatie over ho.. http://twurl.nl/xz8mhz

    (TChed): Starbucks Under fire for new logo design: http://tinyurl.com/5a3z4x

    (candiluu): @jaimef Miami Vice is an excelent example of poor sound design.

    (devfunnel): [design: A List Apart] Zebra Striping: Does it Really Help? http://www.alistapart.com/articles/zebrastripin...

    (askrom): I [heart] design history, but when a designer claims that today's challenges are no different than decades ago, they just seem old and bitter.

    (devfunnel): [design: COLOURlovers] When I'm Horny http://tinyurl.com/6xlhaz

    (twHIVE_W20): [-O] Finishing up a CMS with an oversized design for old people in redlands ...catering to old peo.. http://tinyurl.com/55wq7t

    (sarahatwood): @douglassarine well, i wouldn't recommend you get ladies underwear but if you insist the design goes in the back

    (tjreo): Trying to prefer twitterific over twhirl but just can't. Features important to me win out over beautiful design.

    (melmcbride): why must they design so many women's products with Barbie doll aesthetics? http://tinyurl.com/64r66n

    (makkura): How Design '08 opening keynote!! The fun starts now!!
    Sent at 4:03 PM on Sunday

    (hans_engel): New site design is live! Sorry for the stinky 'About Me' section - I was never good at writing those. http://is.gd/ihK

    (laurict): Interior design suggestion: when building a public men's room, don't install highly reflective tile behind the toilet. Mildly disturbing.

    (kingkool68): New blog post: Steve Jobs Cannot Design A Mouse http://tinyurl.com/5wbhkj

    (kbondelli): I don't even want to think about the hours lost in web design because Microsoft made an inferior product in IE and people choose to use it

    (JamiePappas): Great post by @chrisbrogan re: blog design - check it out! http://tinyurl.com/6q5zhw

    (designforum): Graphic Design Forum Dosugus cushion: Dosugus cushion looks like a black screen a.. http://tinyurl.com/5m2s2d

    (wordpressjob): New job posted! Wordpress blog design http://tinyurl.com/6bvnr6

    (AndyLenz): schönes neues design bei meinem neuen #twitter lieblingsdienst #twitturly http://twitturly.com/

    (TheJoshuaTree): I dont know why, but every-time I listen to Design Matters With Debbie Millman, I feel like a carp designer :/

    (Beaverdale): Drinking ACME pale ale just because I like the retro-y design of the label (but it is pretty darn good beer). Every day should be like this.
  • Robert Scoble · 1 year ago
    Michael: interesting to compare your comment to that of Randy Holloway at http://randyh.wordpress.com/2008/05/18/the-news...
  • Adam · 1 year ago
    > Scoble, you are utterly worthless.

    Yo, Michael C... I find that I disagree with Scoble more often than I agree with him, but dude, what's with the *personal* hate? Given that you clearly have no interest in, nay, actually can't stand his commentary, why read it? The Internet's a grand, big, and flexible place. Find some corners you like and perhaps save on blood pressure medication :-)
  • Paul Elliott · 1 year ago
    Thank you, Robert.

    "Noise" before the China quake? Does that mean you are really a Princeton Egg in disguise?
  • Larry · 1 year ago
    Who cares if you knew about the China earthquake before the US new media? There were people in China who knew before you. Who cares.
  • Larry · 1 year ago
    BTW scoble, I discovered google.com 45 minutes before you did. Who cares. So you were interviewed on bozo US news media. Millions of people in Asia knew about the earthquake before you. Why don't you search for extraterrestrial life or something useful?
  • Chhai · 1 year ago
    Noise is wonderfully useful to get the latest news. I'm attempting a method to filter out the noise to get the news from across the web without actually using/relying on a specific service like Twitter.
  • Gabe · 1 year ago
    Andy Beard's comment is right. Robert's reply to Andy is wrong. Robert, techmeme.com/lb is an output, not an input. And there are many, many blogs whose links send juice/love/rank equal to TechCrunch's.
  • Jeff Crites · 1 year ago
    Interesting take on noise vs news. I've always been an information junkie, a mix of noise and news I guess. I enjoy skimming through numerous blog posts and info bits from Twitter each day. I also enjoy magazine articles - things that aren't time sensitive - that go behind the scenes or look over the horizon for trends. And when I can, I do a quick scan of thousands of press release headlines each week (PR Newswire & Business Wire) - kind of like a PR Twitter stream. All of it together helps me get a feel for trends and shifts in the digital/business landscape. Finding out how Zappos, for example, is using Twitter so effectively tells me we'll see more Brands jumping on the Twitter train soon.
  • Damien Hogan · 1 year ago
    Don't lose site of the difference between why you trawl the noise and why some of us subscribe to your output. There is very little value for me in getting the mere fact of the existence of an earthquake a few minutes before someone else. I'm certainly not subscribed to your feeds for geological information.

    It's kinda interesting to confirm that the Internet has become real-time - but it's been real-time for years now - twitter just makes it easier to notice.

    The greatest service any noise trawler can provide me is to filter the noise. Your filter is your value proposition. Be very careful how you play with the filter's settings.
  • Steve · 1 year ago
    You've hung out with the world's top journalists? Really? Which ones?

    Walt Bogdanich, or Jake Hooker? Amy Harmon? Jo Becker ? Barton Gellman? Steve Fainaru? Gene Weingarten? Steven Pearlstein? Brett Blackledge? Kenneth Weiss? Usha Lee McFarling?
    Susan Schmidt? James Grimaldi?, R. Jeffrey Smith? Dana Priest? James Risen? Eric Lichtblau? Joseph Kahn? jim Yardley? Dele Olojede?

    If you are going to make such a bold claim, at least name some names.
  • Steve · 1 year ago
    And Ted Kennedy's family and friends new about his seizure before you did. What's your point?
  • matt · 1 year ago
    this is just basic communication theory.

    information -> transmitter -> communication channel -> receiver

    The channel acts as a filter.

    You are pointing out that Google News acts as a filter prior to the transmission as their methodology slects only "reputable" or "highly regarded" information sources.

    I'm guessing that most readers of your blog, greater social/online network, possess sufficient receiver processing power to parse the noise, so therefore they desire a high bandwidth transmitter and communication channel.

    However, I don't believe that everyone wishes to do the receiver post-processing and often prefer news which is easier to digest.

    thanks for the post
  • Cuthbert · 1 year ago
    If I were a real news junkie then I'd go for the noise. I'd be willing to expend the energy required to spot trends and basically keep up with the noise. As it is, I'm not willing, which is why news is usually enough for me. I only want to keep up enough to consume the strained, filtered and processed product.

    If I may use a crude analogy: It's like having someone else masticate my food before I eat it. I lose out on the nutrients and most of the enjoyment. (Not to mention it's disgusting.) But it saves me the trouble of having to chew. If I had the time or energy or willingness, then of course I'd rather do it myself.
  • straightrecord · 1 year ago
    as a professional, seasoned print journalist, i'd like to tell your readers you are full of crap. a tour of a newspaper's satellite printing plant does not mean you have "hung out" with top journalists. sorry to use this language, but you are somewhat pathetic. as a simple example, a real journalist knows the difference between "who" and "that," or at least his or her editor does. you really don't have a bit of a handle on the news business. your prime sources of daily news are on the bottom rung of information. just what are you trying to achieve? from what i see, you, as with most of americans, haven't the foggiest idea about what news is or what the news business is about. you might want to give it up. while you're at it, review some of your 7th grade grammar lessons.
    and sorry, steve, you didn't list a single "real journalist." most of the best are not readily known to the general public because we don't seek tabloid-cable tv attention.
  • lemukenfi · 1 year ago
    Since noise is where the future trends and actions hide, wouldn't it be interesting to implement that behaviour in regular business. Thinking of NPM Noise Process Management as a challenge for companies.

    http://bpmedge.wordpress.com
  • John Elar · 1 year ago
    its quite cool without noise :d
  • TranceMist · 1 year ago
    Fantastic analysis and explanation of the two, Robert.

    Really insightful. Great job.
  • david · 1 year ago
    hurah for the noise. nicely written.
  • Steve · 1 year ago
    straightrecord, fair point about my list of named. I completely agree that the majority of the world's best journalists go unknown. Which only reinforces my question that Scoble provide evidence to support his narccistic claim
  • OneRock 777 · 1 year ago
    I am wondering what advantage did anyone gain by virtue of all of the early "Noise" generated about the earthquake on Twitter. Did anyone use this information to take any action what so ever to help anyone or did you all just congratulate each other for knowing first....
    Noise is for twits news is for people who are too busy doing things that matter to have time to sift thrugh the noise.
  • Stef Levolger · 1 year ago
    Noise as you call it can be a way of quickly receiving what is practically just the latest news, but on the other hand it usually is also highly inaccurate as details have yet to be revealed.

    An indication that something happened which is getting people's attention but it's usually not till the actual news arrives before people really get to know what it's about.

    Asides from that, don't forget that essentially most noise is just coming from the news directly, quickly mentioned by one which happened to be watching the news. It's not like it instantly came from those right at the source of things.

    In case you have the time on your hands though to follow what's happening in the world by doing so on services like twitter, blogs or any other form of independent journalism on the net nothing is going to stop you. But for those with less time on their hands google news is all they need, or perhaps better to say what they can spare.

    On the other hand, noise is far from a bad thing either. Not that I give anything on whether someone knows it before me or not, but simply for the fact that it creates awareness. After all, better to pick up the latest news through the noise than not picking it up at all.
  • therapydoc · 1 year ago
    Oh, I love this post. It's the difference between process and product, in therapyspeak.
  • Chris · 1 year ago
    Noise should be avoided. Typically, noise is poorly written. Editors are undervalued. If you read a large volume of noise, your writing will suffer. Filters, such as Google News, help.
  • Jim Connolly · 1 year ago
    There are some GREAT comments here!

    That NOISE is the sound of ideas being formed as the Internet moves; it's to be embraced by those who want to see the future in advance!

    I just wrote a post about Robert's influence on my blog. It's about time he gets the 'props' he deserves - what Scoble's achieved in amazing - stunning. http://thetechnewsblog.com/2008/05/19/the-scobl...



    Jim Connolly
    The Tech News Blog
  • David · 1 year ago
    noise

    n.

    1) A stench in the ear. Undomesticated music. The chief product and authenticating sign of civilization.

    2)In Computer Science, irrelevant or meaningless data.

    1)Devil's Dictionary
    2)American Heritage Dictionary
  • Sour Grapes · 1 year ago
    The noise of Twitter and Friendfeed are interesting to you because you're writing about Twitter and Friendfeed. It wouldn't be any use to anyone who doesn't cover those areas. You sound to me like an old-time newsman who advises a youngster to hang around the police station because that's where it's all happening. Well, on the crime beat that's good advice. But what if you cover City Hall?
  • Marieke Hensel · 1 year ago
    So... what would happen if politicians start listening to the noise instead of to the news (and big statistic reports and such)

    And...
    What would happen when corporate companies start listening to the noise instead of to the news? Oh.. a... wait... I guess that's called marketing or maybe customer service but what are the executives doing?

    I am sure one day that -will- happen. But not today. And not tomorrow.

    ;-)