"Stumbling Upon" Political News

When I first visited StumbleUpon, I was not looking for anything particularly enlightening. After seeing links posted by my friends on Facebook, I was curious to find out more about this Web site. During my initial search, I found a video of a talented street drummer, pictures of cute animals and an online game. However, there were also some useful pages as well – instructions on how to nap to maximize its benefits, a universal packing list and a performance comparison of web browsers.

The main page of the site includes a list of topics that the user can select if they are interested in “stumbling upon” Web pages pertaining to those subjects. Politics is one of these topics. However, it is more difficult to find this category because it is on a more specialized list (not the main list on the home page). There is also no “news” category. I wondered if one day the site could be frequently used to “stumble upon” political news.

Referral sites, like StumbleUpon, have become increasingly popular. They capitalize on the idea of discovery – users discover Web sites that interest them with the help of these specialized search tools.

According to volume three of "The Big Thaw," a study by progressive media outlets, entrepreneurs looking to the future of journalism have noticed the potential of these sites and the “Semantic Web.” The human-centered approach of these sites makes them attractive to online users who want to search for information that matters to them.

Is the potential of these referral sites untapped? Or are they already providing people with political news?

Digg has political news and political opinion sections. The user has the ability to choose the format of the news – written, videos or images. The site also lets the user customize his or her search. The audience is given more input on the site with the options to comment, share, bury and/or “digg” (give approval of the page). More "diggs" of a page makes it more accessible to the next digg.com visitor.

reddit.com had a large amount of information on their page about politics. The news is organized by what’s hot, new, controversial, top and saved. The source of the news is listed beside the title of each submission. There were several submissions from youtube.com, but there were also articles, editorials and blogs from sites such as The Raw Story, Daily Kos and The New York Times.

Users can also directly post about politics. The title of their submission is preceded by the word “self,” and instead of a site, self.politics is written beside it. One submission was a note from a user’s grandfather defending health care reform. Another was shorter – simply stating, “Ron Paul is a highly ideological libertarian and a creationist.” I found this interesting because it received numerous comments. The statement, although seemingly extremist, acted as a conversation starter for a political discussion.

An application called SkyGrid is accompanying one of the most talked about newcomers on the technological scene, the iPad. SkyGrid gathers information for users on a wide array of topics, which can then be filtered by category or user preference. This application stands out from the other referral sites because it streams straight to the iPad so that users receive breaking news as its posted. Not only does this application collect information from traditional news sites, but it also gathers news from social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter. In addition, it sorts information by reputation (although the criteria for trust is not given) and velocity (the fastest-changing information).

The Huffington Post and Alternet are more filtered referral sites. The political news on The Huffington Post, called Huffpost Politics, is from “reputable” moderated sources of political information. Bloggers featured on the site included the former Secretary of Labor and a digital correspondent of the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. The “Big News” topics of the day are also listed at the top of the page.

Meanwhile, Alternet compiles its own news with news from independent media sources. One of the site’s goals is to instigate action among users. Its tab of investigation news contributes to that effort. The site has some characteristics of traditional media sources – each category has its own editor as well as a weekly newsletter.

Do readers appreciate the extra filtering? Or does it decrease the democratizing effect of independent media?

Although these sites are less open to all of the available online information, I trust the news on these sites more because I know someone is policing the sources.

Despite the options available, StumbleUpon is the most popular among younger users. In fact, it was the only referral site I had heard of prior to taking this class. The site does not compile all the latest news on a single page or under a single tab, but instead it directs users straight to another Web site. This feature has its setbacks – users may not get the news they need. At the same time, users may “stumble upon” a video or article that they otherwise would not view if they simply saw its headline. News sources should capitalize on this feature and increase their presence on this site. After all, as "The Big Thaw" noted, younger Internet users expect the news to find them.

We don’t want to dig for news. We want to stumble upon it.

Smartphones and Political News: "There's an app for that"

Slogans, such as the Apple’s iPhone slogan above, have become mainstream as the demand for smartphones has increased. I briefly discussed the advantages of smartphones in an earlier post, but I wanted to explore this growing technology further. How useful are smartphones for accessing news, particularly political news? Do people typically use them for this purpose?

My interest in this topic was sparked by the fact that my phone recently broke, and I spent the past week without a phone. The experience was excruciating. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but needless to say it was difficult. Throughout the week, I became an avid Facebook user – even more avid than I already am. Facebook messages, Facebook chat and Twitter became my main sources of communication. I wondered what it would be like to access these sites on my phone.

It will take some time before I find out. My parents have always been technologically behind. I was the last of my peers to use AOL Instant Messenger in middle school because my mom was not convinced it was free. And the family computer had dial up until I was in high school. The dialing sound still gives me nightmares.

But just as dial up finally became ancient history in the Bryan household – and throughout most of modern society – so hopefully will a cell phone without Internet access.

Smartphones are phones with advanced software that allow the user to access the Internet, email, and other resources, such as GPS. According to Gartner’s market share figures released Feb. 23, Symbian and Research in Motion have the largest market shares for smartphones, but iPhone OS is increasing rapidly, nearly doubling from 2008 to 2009. With more than 91 million customers, Verizon Wireless, known for its slogan – “America’s most reliable wireless network”– offers several smartphone models.

Numerous smartphone applications have moved beyond Internet access and email. According to Time magazine, the iPhone’s most popular applications include Yelp, a GPS system that includes consumer reviews of popular restaurants, stores and more, and Midomi, which identifies songs on the radio as well as songs a person is humming or singing.

The applications on smartphones have allowed people to stay more technologically connected than ever. According to an article in The Washington Post, some people worry it may even become an obsession. But are people using their advanced phones to stay up-to-date on politics?

Time magazine also reported that the NYTimes is a popular news source for iPhone users. In addition, the NowLocal application allows users to access local news, and Instapaper lets users save articles they find so they can read them later.

News channels sometimes offer mobile news updates, such as Fox8 News Mobile in North Carolina’s Triad area. Updates include the top local stories, weather forecasts, sports news, movies, flights and gas prices in the region. While the weather forecast and traffic updates may be a person’s first priority, local news is also available at a person’s fingertips.

Politicians have noticed the advantages of using smartphones as well. In Canada, political candidates are looking into campaign-boosting applications that allow users to donate money and participate in political polls. Until a greater percentage of the population owns smartphones, the polls may have skewed results, but the application has the potential to increase the power of public opinion.

With more opportunities to access news, I would expect people with smartphones to be more informed than ever – and I think they are informed about the events and things that impact their lives most directly. However, political news does not seem to be the most popular function of smartphones. With the breadth of information users receive on their phones, many people may skip over news updates.

Still, the potential to access political news anytime, anywhere exists. For me, an update about the town council may never be as exciting as an invitation to a party, but, with the news adjacent to my friends’ texts, I would be more likely to at least glance over it. And the information gathered from a glance is better than no information at all.

The instant access smartphone users have to information is an advantage. It also requires little effort. The user must only take a small step to access news – from making a Twitter account, to uploading an application, to reading an update. The news comes to them.

So when wireless phone companies offer an indestructible smartphone with a low-cost monthly bill, I’ll be more up-to-date than ever on both my personal life and community news. I’m already counting down the days.