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Question of the day
Tuesday, Nov 5, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller * I’m gonna let you in on a little secret. I’ve all but stopped using Google News. The company broke its news search several months ago and despite my requests for action and promises from friends at the company that something would be done, nothing happened. It’s still broken. * Let me give you just one example. As you might imagine, I spend a good chunk of my blogging days checking for breaking news. I use searches specifically designed to produce the latest results. Google gives you two basic sorting options on its news search: relevance and by date. I need “by date” so I can find the latest stuff. Here’s a Google News search of “Christine Radogno” sorted by relevance…  * And here are the same Google News search results by date…  Um, what? This is just the most extreme example, but the site’s problems drove me nuts, which is why I reached out to the company for help. Yet, as you can clearly see above, it’s still broken. * So, I’ve switched to Bing. I’m a dedicated Mac guy and Google’s Chicago office paid big bucks to co-host my election night party last year, so using a Microsoft [shudder] product throughout my day was not an easy pill to swallow. I still occasionally use Google as a backup because I’ve seen a couple of holes in Bing’s results every now and then. But I’m very nearly a one hundred percent Bing News user now. It works and Google doesn’t - at least for my purposes. * The Question: Have you used Bing’s web and/or news searches? If so, how would you rate your experience? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please. Any suggestions you’d have for improvements to Bing would also be a good thing because I’m meeting with a company representative tomorrow to discuss a few tweaks I’d like them to make. survey services
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- Anon - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 10:53 am:
Is this a paid advertisement for Bing?
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 10:56 am:
===Is this a paid advertisement for Bing? ===
Don’t be silly.
- Springfield Wesite - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 10:56 am:
I’ve never used Bing to search for news, but general web searches are frustrating. I’ll stick with Google.
- Google Fan - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 10:57 am:
I’ve found that google search works best if you don’t go through Google News but instead do a regular search and use the “search tools” to further refine the search. You can sort that by date, and you can also limit results to those published in the last hour or 24 hours. This catches nearly everything imho.
- lost in the weeds - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:07 am:
use google alerts
- Siriusly - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:12 am:
I voted never / rarely because when Bing first started I tried and hated it. But based on your comments here, I am going to give it another chance. Thanks Rich ! I also use Google News to search for stuff and there is a problem there.
- FoxValleyPride1 - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:14 am:
I use Bing now for most things and find out at least as good as Google for most things with the glaring exception of maps. Nothing beats Google for maps.
- Cycling In The Dark - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:17 am:
I’ve noticed this problem lately too, but my advice is to use Twitter. News outlets and reporters are diligent about posting their coverage there and it’s usually easy to find what you’re looking for, in addition to Google Alerts.
- Mr. Jim Lahey - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:18 am:
I’ve done the Bing/Google Challenge twice in 2 years and both times Google has won.
- publicservant - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:19 am:
I’ve used bing but it’s because google shops my searches for advertising so my pages all have those Ad Choice targeted ads on them. Ad “Choice”…yeah right.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:21 am:
===in addition to Google Alerts. ===
My in-box is already too jam packed. No way.
- 32nd Ward Roscoe Village - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:27 am:
I am same as Siriusly. I will try again, especially since my work computer has a Bing toolbar. It would make it easier.
- A guy... - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:28 am:
Actually, I’ve been using you.
- CircularFiringSquad - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:28 am:
It has been going on longer than 2 months, but if you just type my search and it bounces in …little more work, but works
we will never sell out a Capt Fax sponsor
- Cycling In The Dark - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:31 am:
Reply to Rich re: Google alerts: The key is to keep your searches narrowly targeted and/or only sign up for the “Once a day” setting if it’s not an urgent news topic. It picks up the occasional important news item I’d have otherwise missed.
- Joan P. - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:32 am:
I have never tried Bing, but, based on your post, I’ll give it a try.
- Anon - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:37 am:
I’m a computer junkie and constantly use it for recreation and work.
Maybe I’m just stuck in my ways but I’ve avoided Bing like the plague. Have never gone there, and have furiously changed it anytime it’s the default for a new app or program.
I don’t like change…
- Waldi - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:40 am:
My source is the morning newspaper (just kidding). Like “A guy” I mostly use Capital Fax for State/local news.
- Belle - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:40 am:
Google is good. Tried Bing every so often and it’s fine too.
- Raymond - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:41 am:
I rely mostly on Google alerts and manual searches of certain news sites, and will occasionally use the Google web/news interface for backup searches.
I’ve found the Google alerts to be mostly reliable, but can’t make sense of why it will often re-flag certain news items a month of two after publication.
Twitter is a great tool for following and researching news content (the search function is actually useful and reliable, unlike FB’s search function, which is garbage).
I’ll give Bing a shot.
- 3rd Generation Chicago Native - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:46 am:
I use Yahoo mostly. I like it better than Google or Bing.
- quicknote - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 11:46 am:
I left your Christmas party with about 20 pairs of Google sunglasses in my jacket pocket. For that reason alone, I think you should give them another chance.
- le geek - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 12:21 pm:
I use Bing search nearly exclusively and am happy with the search results I get.
- The KQ - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 12:31 pm:
I have not had much luck with Bing. It seems I get less relevant results than when I use Google. I’d rather use Bing, but it takes more time to find what I am looking for while google always seems to have what I want right at the top.
I still haven’t forgiven google for dropping igoogle.
- Louis G. Atsaves - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 12:35 pm:
Google many times was giving me recycled news from last October/November 2012 on politics. Drove me crazy.
I started using Bing recently. Seems more accurate than Google News, but I haven’t eliminated Google News. I just pretty much routinely delete Google unless I see news being reported today or yesterday.
- news - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 12:36 pm:
Google news had the option to customize a news search by state. That function doesn’t work anymore. It would be nice if Bing would add that.
- Chavez-respecting Obamist - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 12:47 pm:
I confuse Bing because I don’t have Facebook.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 2:41 pm:
Rich,
Have you tried just sorting under the “Any time” column rather than the sorted by date under the “sorted by relevance” tab? You can limit it to the last 24 hours, past hour, etc. (I am sure you know this but, just in case, I thought I would mention it.)
- BobInPeoria - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 6:43 pm:
Rich,
Totally agree on your comments on how Google News has messed up the Latest News search the last few months.
I still don’t get why they changed it, since it worked fine before.
- Just The Way It Is One - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 6:54 pm:
Bing is alright, but I must say that Google still Usually gets me what I’m looking for, but if you decide to stick with just Bing, you’ll be ok…
- ejhickey - Tuesday, Nov 5, 13 @ 7:49 pm:
never used Bing but will give it a shot
- Bob Roman - Wednesday, Nov 6, 13 @ 8:36 am:
I gave up on Google News sometime last year as even that long ago there were large differences in “date” and “relevance” searches. There are similar differences in regular Google searches. If I haven’t switched to Bing, it’s mostly because Google still seems to have better tools for defining searches.