The BBC has recently introduced a new element to the news section of its website which scrapes in (and links to) related content from external news sites. So, for example, if you click on the BBC article about the current oil tanker strikes, further down the page, on the right hand side you are given a list of related articles from other news websites. This particular article currently has links to related articles in the Sunday Mirror, Mirror and CNN among others.
Digital Inspiration is reporting that the BBC is using Moreover Technologies (Nick Denton’s old company) to automatically pull in related articles from over 4,000 external news sites. There is no human intervention in the process much like how Google News and Yahoo News both work.
The Beeb gives an explanation as to why they’ve introduced this new element to the site, and it’s a pretty good one, “Our users tell us that one of the things they value most about our service is our policy of linking openly to other websites. These links offer access to more detailed information, the chance to compare sources or check out a different perspective on the same story.”
Fair play to the BBC for linking out and effectively promoting the content of its competitors. One wonders if they are planning to include blogs in this process. Now that would give readers the opportunity to “check out a different perspective on the same story.”
Stephen is a communications consultant based out of the UK. You can connect with him on Twitter or check out his LinkedIn profile. | Email Stephen
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Ian Delaney
Very interesting. I (and many others) have long criticised the BBC News site for failing to give credit to the blogosphere.
4000 sites seems an odd number. Are they being hand-vetted? And on what criteria, I wonder.
Ian Delaney
Ah – your picture has loaded now. I see there’s still nothing from blogs.
Jem Stone (BBC)
Actually BBC News have had this feature for quite a while (2006 i think). There is a white label list of global news sources that help power the feature.There is also a degree of editorial intervention. (although its fairly light touch). A blog version of newstracker (its internal BBC name) is being tested.
Stephen
Cheers Jem,
I wasn’t aware that BBC News has been linking out to external news articles for that long. Good stuff though.