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MySpace Takes on Google News and Digg

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the climbing-mount-improbable dept.

cyberianpan writes "According to a Times Online article, MySpace is going into the news business. They'll soon be premiering a service that will scour the internet for news stories and let users vote on which ones receive the most exposure. This approach blends elements of Google News and sites such as Digg and Netscape, which rely on readers to submit stories and determine their prominence. One could see where this might be the 'holy grail' of internet news. Not only will you be able to tap into the wisdom of the crowds, but ultimately your recommended stories could be influenced by the likes and dislikes of your friends/heroes."

28 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Uh, "the wisdom of the crowds"? by daveschroeder · · Score: 4, Funny
    The "'holy grail' of internet news"?

    And "ultimately your recommended stories could be influenced by the likes and dislikes of your friends/heroes"?

    All in the same paragraph as "MySpace"?

    Hold the phone... where do I sign up?

    After all, it worked marvelously for Digg!

    And instead of taking contributions everyone - which works out famously on Digg, by the way - or instead of using intelligent algorithms to uniformly aggregate news from a wide variety of news outlets around the world, this instead filters down to the existing membership and intellectual level of MySpace?

    What could go wrong?

    ...

    More like "the collective whim of whatever quasi-viral story du jour interests MySpace users at the moment".

    Yeah, I realize News Corp owns MySpace. But give me a break.

    1. Re:Uh, "the wisdom of the crowds"? by CastrTroy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      However, I would love to be able to mod a story down on google news. Don't you hate clicking on a news link on google, only to be brought to some advertisement covered page, where every other word is highlighted such that when you hover it, another ad shows up. It would be really nice if you could mod a story down, so that other users wouldn't have to deal with pages like this, and also so that websites with enough negative karma wouldn't show up in the links at all.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    2. Re:Uh, "the wisdom of the crowds"? by jfengel · · Score: 3, Informative

      Whenever possible I try to go with a reputable news source's version of the story. 99.99% of the time, if the link goes to the Heath Ledger Times Star Jones Dispatch, it's really just a copy of the AP or Reuters news wire. If I'm going to get that I might as well get it from the Washington Post or New York Times (especially since I've already sold my soul and possess the Devil's Cookie on my system anyway).

      I've also got NoScript on my FireFox, which limits some of the worst abuses that a web page can throw at me.

    3. Re:Uh, "the wisdom of the crowds"? by Lord+Ender · · Score: 4, Funny

      After all, it worked marvelously for Digg!
      One of the top articles on dig right now (as we speak) is: "Check out what my friend found in a bag of Tostitos".

      Enough said.
      --
      A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
  2. Anna Nicole Smith by cyphercell · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Again, and again, and again...., American Idol a thousand weeks running. who cares?

    --
    Under the influence of Post-Cyberpunk Gonzo Journalism
  3. About time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Myspace will bring some much needed credibility to the mainstream media.

  4. Rupert Murdoch by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Informative

    I submitted this same story earlier this morning but it was voted down to black in the firehose almost instantly. Probably because of the negative spin I gave it. Well, I'm not afraid of losing karma so I'll spout my ramblings in a post instead.

    Rupert Murdoch owns News Corporation, a conglomerate business that, among other things, owns many news sources. MySpace is a division of News Corp as well as Fox News, The Sun, The Australian, SmartSource, The Times, New York Post, News of the World, etc.

    Something interesting about Rupert Murdoch is his political leanings are often reflected in all of the divisions of his corporation. Guess why 175 of his editors favored the Iraq war.

    Call me a conspiracy theorist or whatever you need to call me in order to ignore one nagging issue--is it really that safe to have so many different news sources coming from really the same man? The worst part is that there is no perceived relation between the New York Post and Fox News yet they are basically one and the same in how they spin their news on partisan issues. It's the same in Great Britain & Australia. I don't even care that he's predominantly conservative in his views, I just care that if he decided to back any candidate (possibly even Hillary Clinton) that suddenly that candidate is favored in many news sources. He's making political decisions that impact the world and he's not an elected politician.

    I fear that if MySpace is edited at all by hand or by automation, it will favor articles that favor his candidates--in exactly the same way he has been running his newspapers and TV news. Beware your free and capitalist media, America because it looks as though a single man has a growing monopoly on it ...

    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:Rupert Murdoch by cyphercell · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You're quite right, usually both the left and the right take the same side in a conspiracy.

      --
      Under the influence of Post-Cyberpunk Gonzo Journalism
  5. Maybe I'm wrong here, but... by zappepcs · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I thought the basic demographic of heavy MySpace users were the same group that never talk about the news unless its sponsored by a cosmetics company or MTV?

    --
    Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
    1. Re:Maybe I'm wrong here, but... by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That's why it's perfect for Rupert Murdoch. A locked-in audience of people who don't give a tin shit about the news unless it's pre-packaged and spoon-fed to them in a trendy way must have been an irresistable target to someone who is mainly known for pre-packaging the news as he sees it and making a pantload of money in the process. A step like this was pretty obvious from the moment News Corp. signed on the dotted line and bought MySpace.

      --
      Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
  6. Wisdom of the crowds? by casings · · Score: 4, Funny

    The day I want some 13 year old emo kid brigade to guide me with their "wisdom" will be a cold day in hell.

    1. Re:Wisdom of the crowds? by powerpants · · Score: 4, Funny

      Just wait. In 10 years, that emo kid will be your boss.

  7. maybe not the best idea by jonno317 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Tapping into the collective wisdom of the MySpace crowd might not be the most productive thing in the world...

  8. Re:It's Coming by cyphercell · · Score: 2, Funny

    Why do I feel like I'm about to enter into a tug of war for the essence of my soul?

    --
    Under the influence of Post-Cyberpunk Gonzo Journalism
  9. The average myspace user says... by CompMD · · Score: 3, Funny

    "OMG I HAVE A MYSPACE ON TEH INTARWEB!"

    Do you really trust this person to help provide useful news?

  10. Yeah, but who'll see it? by Mike+Hicks · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, but how often will the news be this instead?

    Sorry! an unexpected error has occurred.
    This error has been forwarded to MySpace's technical group.

  11. This is a good time to ROTFL by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not only will you be able to tap into the wisdom of the crowds, but ultimately your recommended stories could be influenced by the likes and dislikes of your friends/heroes."

    Wisdom of the crowds? When you get a crowd, wisdom is the opposite of what you have. To paraphrase an entertaining little movie, only because I'm too lazy go to look it up properly, a person is smart. People are dumb, panicky animals and you know it.

    Here on slashdot, supposedly the site for "news for nerds", the only way we reach anything like wisdom (or even correct information) is for a bunch of people to spout off foolishly and then be corrected incorrectly by people who think they're smart, who are finally properly corrected by someone who knows what they're talking about - usually by which time the story has left the front page.

    My first guess is that a myspace news will be far, far worse.

    I do think that community-developed media is the future of basically all types of media. But the above quote just makes me snicker.

    Do I really want the same news feed as my idol? I mean, since I'm a nerd, if I actually had an idol it would probably be someone whose news page would be interesting. But if I were a typical myspacecase, I'd be reading about basketball shoes and ferraris or something.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  12. The name of the new service by TodMinuit · · Score: 4, Funny

    Dungg.com

    --
    I wonder if I use bold in my signature, people will notice my posts.
  13. List of most frequent stories by r_jensen11 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Britney Spears...
    Jessica Simpson...
    American Idol...
    OMG Ponies!

    Oddly enough, it's similar to /., only different topics.
    Most frequent stories on /.:
    Linux is ready for the Desktop!
    Ground-breaking new hard-drive capacity!
    New, ground-breaking graphics cards!
    OMFG Ponies!

  14. The Party & the Candidate Don't Matter by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The allegations of a silent right wing conspiracy in media is just as ridiculous as the "liberal media" assertions.
    Buddy, it doesn't have to be right or left, it just has to be obvious to me. I personally feel this is obvious to me and I really don't care if you don't see it the same way. More power to you if you don't and you can sleep at night.

    What worries me is the power one man is given without an election. Point me to a conglomerate of "liberal spouting news organizations" run by one man or even one company all spinning the news the same way and I'll be just as critical and upset.

    Please do reply to this with an example of 175 editors all working under the same man all coming to the same conclusion about a partisan issue and I'll add them to my list.

    As as for powerful people influencing things? Welcome to the real world.
    Fine, you sit back and take it. I'll bitch about it on Slashdot because I love my free speech.

    If you had read that Wikipedia link, you'd notice he has hosted fund raisers for Hillary Clinton. I don't give a rat's ass who the candidate is, if I like them or if I like their party. I just have a problem with him exerting influence through a news dominant stance.

    In my eyes, MySpace is just another growth of that iron grasp but apparently you don't agree or care with me about that ... enjoy your "elections."
    --
    My work here is dung.
  15. Inflated hopes by Aeron65432 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I think the very fact that we are all posting on Slashdot shows that user-driven-content isn't necessarily good, there needs to be some kind of editorial control. I read Digg for a while, it had some cool postings and seemed like a good idea. But it has just turn into pseudo-mob-rule now. Diggs trolling for advertising show up all too often (and while a similar story may appear on Slashdot we generally bitch it into obscurity) and it's news stories, IMHO, have watered down significantly. It's no longer a news site per se, I certainly wouldn't go there to read insightful comments. (Complain about /. moderation if you will, but Digg's comment system is awful and not worth reading)


    So not only is user-driven news sources inherently flawed, but as we all know, giving any sort of voice or power to Myspace users just screams OMG PONIES, "OMG NEW SHOES AT ABERCOMBIE" and "People- DO U ACTLY THINK IM HOT?" all over the front page, daily.

  16. well... by Lxy · · Score: 3, Funny

    I, for one, welcome our new Myspace over.... OMG PONIEZ!!!!!!

    --

    There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
    :wq
  17. Here's your Pitchfork and Burning Torch by wsanders · · Score: 3, Funny

    "What could possibly go wrong?" Well, how about "Triumph of the Will", only with NASCAR. Or for the less serious maybe some of the mass hysteria scenes from "Spongebob Squarepants."

    I'll take my content filtered by The Man, please.

    --
    Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
  18. "Wisdom of crowds"? by uhlume · · Score: 4, Funny
    On MySpace? Let me fix that for you...

    ultimately your recommended stories could be influenced by the likes and dislikes of a bunch of cretins.


    ...Hm. Now it reads like they're going into competition with Slashdot.
    --
    SIERRA TANGO FOXTROT UNIFORM
  19. Spam by cliath · · Score: 2, Funny

    Finally! I have been waiting for a place to find all the information I ever wanted on free iPhones, ring tones, Target gift cards and penis enlargement supplements.

  20. My "friends" by Plutonite · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ultimately your recommended stories could be influenced by the likes and dislikes of your friends/heroes I, for one, want to say that everybody on myspace is a "dislike" of my friends and heroes. What was the submitter thinking anyway? How could he possibly have the nerve to stride up here to slashdot and claim that 14 year old girls experimenting with their socks can somehow serve as a newsworthiness filter? Is it not enough that our dear uber-geek editors, who toil day and night, and who bring unquantifiable knowledge to use in their judgements, STILL consistently fail to satisfy our critical eyes and are slandered mercilessly by our hefty crowd?

  21. Typical story by kingturkey · · Score: 2, Funny

    hey! geuss wat? i just got my FREE voucher for that handbag i was telling u about! You can get 1 to, just click this link. Be quick before they all run out!

  22. Isn't the rest of their site incredibly broken? by sahonen · · Score: 2, Funny

    Shouldn't they worry about fixing the functionality they already (are supposed to) have instead of trying to add new functionality?

    --
    Make me a friend and I'll mod you up