Google News shines a Spotlight on “in-depth” journalism
Google News has quietly added a new section that steps back from the ever-quickening news cycle to highlight “in-depth pieces of lasting value.” It’s called Spotlight, and like the rest of Google News, the stories are selected by an undisclosed algorithm. (This is the full-fledged version of a feature they previously tested with a “small percentage of users” under the heading, “Interesting Reads.”)
Judging by the story selection and a brief explanation by Google, the Spotlight shines on longer features that have bounced around blogs for a few days. Lifestyle and opinion pieces do particularly well, and The New York Times is a frequent source. Google describes the feature this way (emphasis added):
The Spotlight section of Google News is updated periodically with news and in-depth pieces of lasting value. These stories, which are automatically selected by our computer algorithms, include investigative journalism, opinion pieces, special-interest articles, and other stories of enduring appeal.
I see Spotlight as part of an emerging class of news applications that use the byproducts of online activity to surface compelling material. The best example is Marco Arment’s blog, Give Me Something to Read, which features articles that are frequently bookmarked on Instapaper; it works because Instapaper is already a magnet for quality, long-form content. Delicious and Bit.ly, both link-sharing services, have recently begun to transform the remnant data in their servers into news streams. A new RSS reader, Fever, ranks content according to “signals” in the activity of blogs you trust. And Google Reader generates a feed of “interesting stuff” based on user behavior.
Closer to home, I’ve been loving The Hourly Press, a creation of Payyattention and managed by Lyn Headley, which mines certain activity on Twitter to surface “newsworthy” stories — in this case, about journalism. [UPDATE, 1:30 p.m.: I corrected the preceding sentence. See Lyn's comment below.] It’s a prototype that could be applied to any topic.
Of course, Google News has long analyzed web activity to populate its pages. (More on that in Josh’s post today.) But in favoring content with “enduring appeal,” Google’s Spotlight seems to be searching for better clues that point to quality content. If we can’t see their super-secret algorithm, then at least we can take this as a reminder that the best stories may be hiding in our metadata.
Zachary M. Seward | Sept. 3, 2009 | 9:12 a.m.
Tags: aggregation, algorithms, automation, Bit.ly, Delicious, Fever, Give Me Something to Read, Google, Google News, Google Reader, Instapaper, Interesting Reads, Lyn Headley, Marco Arment, New York Times, RSS, Spotlight, The Hourly Press, Yahoo News
This is great. I hope that others follow suit in valuing these types of stories. Perhaps it will create a shift among the audience on the web to appreciate content that is a bit longer than what the average Web-surfing attention span would allow.
Awesome. Google News has my approval. =)
Hi Zach,
I’m glad you’re loving The Hourly Press, but I did not create it. That work was done in conjunction with the core team of payyattention, whose support I relied on this summer. The Hourly Press is a product of Payyattention.
It is more accurate to say I “created” News about News, which is the inaugural hourly newspaper produced by The Hourly Press. I “created” News about News by selected the editors whose sources determine the newsworthiness of our stories.
In sum, News about News is produced every hour by The Hourly Press, which is a product of payyattention.
Thanks for clarifying, Lyn, and good to meet you today. I just fixed the sentence to better reflect who’s behind what. —Zach
“Spotlight”: Two thumbs up for Google (and Google News)!!
I personally prefer the editing done by Arts & Letters Daily (aldaily.com), but “Spotlight” is also a winner, a daily “must scan” for me.
In a world where we risk narrowing our perspectives by receiving news primarily as recommendations, I see this being an excellent addition to the internet and a great way to keep us even keeled.
My kudos to Google for providing something like this. I look forward to finding out what makes something spotlight worthy.