
Google experiments in local news with an app called Bulletin - farnsworthy
https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/26/google-experiments-in-local-news-with-an-app-called-bulletin/
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Eridrus
I think Techcrunch misses the point here. Twitter has failed in providing
access to this content - when was the last time Twitter ever told you about
something local?

What Google has - with Google Now/Feed and their various news efforts - is
distribution, and you bet they know where you live and care about local
stories for.

An anecdote: a coworker who lives nearby got a local story recommended to them
about part of my building facade falling off.

I don't think Google cares about how to monetise this, it benefits from this
content being on the web, rather than locked in Facebook groups.

As much as anyone here might hate Google, they are one of the few entities
with deep pockets who have a real stake in the open web.

~~~
ocdtrekkie
AMP seems to contradict the idea that Google is invested in supporting the
open web. And Google is a business, not a charity, they're not going to invest
in something they can't monetize.

~~~
Eridrus
Google is not a charity, but their core business - Search - depends on the web
having content they can index. This is a play to defend their existing
business, not a revenue opportunity.

I think AMP is a good thing for the mobile web. It makes web pages actually
usable. People get a bit wound up about the fact that Google hosts the content
on their CDN, but there is always a real URL backing it, the content isn't
locked into Google's platform.

~~~
feikname
> It makes web pages actually usable.

Overriding the default scroll behavior, so as to make the user have to scroll
to the very top of the page to display the browser address bar is really
annoying though.

Besides that, I often do prefer AMP pages due to them loading faster and
wasting less data.

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Bucephalus355
Sometimes I hate on Google, but I really appreciate them doing this (please
don’t kill this product 3 years from now though).

I know National news stories are always more sexy and exciting, but local news
stories bind you to the place and community you live in. National news stories
form a kind of “pseudo-society”. What goes on locally forms real society.

I think the lesson of the last 70 or 80 years and the communication revolution
is that instantaneous information, transmissions that binds everyone together
in time, but not in place, is very destructive and for some reason does not
work with the human mind.

This is somewhat similar to Robert Putnam’s “Bowling Alone” argument from the
mid-1990s, but now the effects are much more severe and I think that’s sensed
across the world now.

~~~
mulmen
We have only had a couple of generations of exposure to timely worldwide
information. Less than one generation of access to nearly instant information.
I think we just haven't developed the mechanisms for processing information
outside of our immediate vicinity because we've never been presented with that
problem.

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hmhrex
This is actually something I've been thinking about lately. I'm nearing the
end of reading The Information Diet (which is just OK IMHO) but that one thing
that stuck is that he mentions getting more information about your local news
so that you can get involved in your community.

I can't stand the local newspapers because they are very regularly inaccurate.
But there really isn't much else in the form of good local news source.

Only problem is, I fell out of love with Google awhile ago. I don't really
want to use their products due to how much data they gather and also fear of
them killing the product within 5 years.

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apeace
You can request early access here:
[https://posts.google.com/bulletin/share](https://posts.google.com/bulletin/share)

I think the potential for this is huge. Though it's a bit different, I've been
using the Citizen[1] app for a few months now, and it changed how I look at my
neighborhood.

Not too long ago I was walking around and Citizen told me a pharmacy had been
robbed a couple blocks away. After waiting a while to be sure it was safe, I
walked over, hoping I could say hello and offer some support to the owner. I
like making friends with local businesses.

Alas, it turned out to be a Rite Aid, so I didn't go in.

But still, it's amazing that my phone connects me to so many things--Donald
Trump, Meltdown and Spectre, popular movies, my upcoming flights--and so
rarely connects me to my own neighborhood.

I think I'll love this, if they do it right.

[1] [https://medium.com/@Citizen_App/introducing-
citizen-a8d2f3fa...](https://medium.com/@Citizen_App/introducing-
citizen-a8d2f3fabf03)

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tropshop
> Bulletin makes it effortless to put a spotlight on inspiring stories that
> aren’t being told.

Bulletin will never take off with this as a core objective. Consuming stories
and producing ever increasing click bait material is what drove society to
social media addiction.

People escape this when it comes to local community. People care about action
and real world interactions. A generic feed of user content that happened to
be published by someone near you is not a very strong signal, and more
importantly, does nothing to push you towards action.

Many comments here lean towards Bulletin having potential to be useful _if_
Google gets this right. Well, I'm not convinced it is off on the right start.
We should focus on specific niches, and build software to help them connect.
In the process, shape an underlying platform that supports communication for
all these niche groups, but without a one-size-fits-all user experience.
Bulletins can be spawned for city council, schools, professional associations,
family activities, or any topic where people share a common interest and
attend events. This has been churning on my mind for some time now, and I hope
to pave some way on this in 2018. It is interesting to see Facebook and Google
declare local communities and groups as a priority. They almost look
incompetent on how to actually serve these needs. They have all the money and
resources imaginable to throw at it, but I think orchestrating these products
simply run counter to their DNA.

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ucaetano
Hopefully it will help drive discovery (and ad funding) of local news, an
extremely important part of democracy that has been neglected by users.

~~~
confounded
The users of democracy?

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thrillgore
It's only a matter of time before its gamed and half the stories are even
faker than fake news. And without the oversight of real editors, this could
harm people.

~~~
johnchristopher
It depends how much grassrooting it's going to leverage. My local community
facebook group doesn't have fake news and keep me informed of what's going on
in my very small and specific village.

~~~
imchillyb
> ...without the oversight of real editors... @thrillgore

> ... local community facebook group doesn't have fake news...
> @johnchristopher

Moderators. Yup. As for the gamed system...yup.

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thisisit
I could be wrong but didn't Google News have some kind of detrimental effect
on online readership of major news? In that case what will happen to local
news when this app hits.

~~~
stanleydrew
In case you're not aware, local news has been on a pretty steep downward
trajectory for awhile now[0]. I doubt this app will have a significant impact,
and it seems more geared towards so-called "citizen journalism".

[0]: [http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-
tank/2017/06/01/circulation-...](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-
tank/2017/06/01/circulation-and-revenue-fall-for-newspaper-industry/)

------
CodeSheikh
As long as Google dose not regulate it for the interest of its stakeholders.
There is always a lot of corruption happening at city and county levels that
goes unheard because it does not pick national level momentum. Nor do I have
time neither do I appreciate my "local" news channels and local newspapers.
Most of the time they are writing/producing fluff pieces (kids stuck in an
arcade claw machine or local dog gave birth to 60 puppies etc) to fill their
news quotas. Having such service around would help me skim through important
news at a quick glance.

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joezydeco
Looks like NextDoor was getting too popular.

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kartickv
I don't understand why hyperlocal news hasn't succeeded yet, after 8 years of
it being talked about. I'm VERY interested in what's happening in my
neighborhood, if my neighbor's house was vandalised, or there was a violent
dispute or something else. Same thing happened in some other city? Less
interested. Some other country? Not interested.

~~~
shostack
Is Nextdoor an option for you? Between that and Ring's neighborhood alerts
with video/photos, I find it much easier to stay current on neighborhood news
than I did before.

~~~
kartickv
No, Nextdoor is available only in some developed countries. What's Ring?
Google searches didn't work.

~~~
coke12
Ring is a digital doorbell. Looks like they also have a "neighborhood watch"
app: [https://ring.com/neighborhoods](https://ring.com/neighborhoods)

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davidw
Local news is a tough problem. I mean this is kind of handy for things anyone
can see, but you _need_ someone to go sit through massive city council
meetings each week, and write it up. What they decide is often more important
to your day to day life than something in Washington DC.

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pavel_lishin
Isn't "local news, the web-app" the impossible dream? So many have tried, and
so many have failed. Google is building a business on a graveyard there, but I
guess they've got the money to prop it up for awhile.

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bitwize
Pretty sure, now that Facebooglezon is considered _hostis humani generis_ ,
that it won't gain traction as a reputable source for solid news.

------
pdfernhout
Bulletin sounds like Google might be considering competing with Craigslist?

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reaperducer
This reminds me of a post the other day where an ex-Googler said that Big G
has stopped innovating, and instead is just copying other products. He then
gave a list.

Google Bulletin = Nextdoor, and probably a dozen other platforms that do the
same thing.

~~~
yueq
We will probably see less acquisitions of product-oriented startups (e.g.
Nextdoor) from Google unless the startup has some core tech/market Google
needs.

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blakesterz
I was thinking that this sounds something like Twitter and the very last
sentence in the article seems to agree:

"But if Google wants a piece of this kind of action, it should have just
bought Twitter years ago."

~~~
johnchristopher
Twitter is b2b, this google experiment soon to be launched then slashed is
likely more b2c/b2b2c.

~~~
Jyaif
Isn't it c2c?

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macklemoreshair
Google should be banned from doing this.

My god, it’s not enough to try to have everyone’s thoughts monetized and
leveraging that to spam their consistently shitty products let’s take over
local news too!

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mataug
I really do hope google doesn't abandon this project

~~~
exolymph
I wouldn't get your hopes up too high.

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oculusthrift
leave us alone google

~~~
jacksmith21006
Then chose to not use them.

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combiuser
Steve Yegge wasn't wrong

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ryanx435
Once again Google is showing that you should not rely on any of their apps or
services for long term needs.

Here is a list of existing Google apps/services that Bulletin would/will
compete with:

News
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_News](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_News)

News and Weather
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_News_%26_Weather](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_News_%26_Weather)

Play Newsstand
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Play_Newsstand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Play_Newsstand)

and the discontinued ones:

Fast Flip
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Fast_Flip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Fast_Flip)

Jaiku
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaiku](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaiku)

~~~
joshuamorton
None of those are meant for locally curated, user generated content.

Bulletin doesn't compete with any of those except in the broadest sense.

~~~
rubidium
nextdoor

