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?<p>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.<p>An anecdote: a coworker who lives nearby got a local story recommended to them about part of my building facade falling off.<p>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.<p>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.
Sometimes I hate on Google, but I really appreciate them doing this (please don’t kill this product 3 years from now though).<p>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.<p>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.<p>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.
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.<p>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.<p>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.
You can request early access here: <a href="https://posts.google.com/bulletin/share" rel="nofollow">https://posts.google.com/bulletin/share</a><p>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.<p>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.<p>Alas, it turned out to be a Rite Aid, so I didn't go in.<p>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.<p>I think I'll love this, if they do it right.<p>[1] <a href="https://medium.com/@Citizen_App/introducing-citizen-a8d2f3fabf03" rel="nofollow">https://medium.com/@Citizen_App/introducing-citizen-a8d2f3fa...</a>
> Bulletin makes it effortless to put a spotlight on inspiring stories that aren’t being told.<p>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.<p>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.<p>Many comments here lean towards Bulletin having potential to be useful <i>if</i> 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Local news is a tough problem. I mean this is kind of handy for things anyone can see, but you <i>need</i> 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.
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.
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.<p>Google Bulletin = Nextdoor, and probably a dozen other platforms that do the same thing.
I was thinking that this sounds something like Twitter and the very last sentence in the article seems to agree:<p>"But if Google wants a piece of this kind of action, it should have just bought Twitter years ago."
Google should be banned from doing this.<p>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!
Once again Google is showing that you should not rely on any of their apps or services for long term needs.<p>Here is a list of existing Google apps/services that Bulletin would/will compete with:<p>News
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_News" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_News</a><p>News and Weather
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_News_%26_Weather" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_News_%26_Weather</a><p>Play Newsstand
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Play_Newsstand" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Play_Newsstand</a><p>and the discontinued ones:<p>Fast Flip
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Fast_Flip" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Fast_Flip</a><p>Jaiku
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaiku" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaiku</a>