For the past week i've checked my page at Google news , which I customised to my liking. In theory it's a good idea. You start with eight news sections (World, Entertainment, Sports ect) and you can add your own custom section and arrange it in any order you like.
So, of course I added 24, music and television. Yay, now just sit back and wait for loads of top stories about these topics, right? No, not so much. Sit back and wait for Google to find all recent stories with the words '24, music and television' in them. As you can see, this may be a problem. Today for example, under the 24 section there are stories about '24inch Plasma screens' and some conferences that are being held on the 24th April.
Of course you can add more key works. For example 'Music+Indie' or '24+Jack Bauer+FOX'. This does filter the bulk of the articles that are found, but it's still not perfect. In fact, it's far from perfect, but it is a quick and easy way to find articles. You don't have to do anything. Just let the machine do it for you, however in this case I would say the human element would have more success, especially if you're looking for something more specific.
1 comment:
Good review - well written as usual - and you've hit on some of the key problems. Did you continue to use Google News or did you give up?
Jim
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