Blogs = News, So Sayeth Google

We shall see if Google's new Blog Alerts service lives up to the needs of the blogosphere. I've been using Google News/Search Alerts for some time now and have only a few complaints (like the lack of integration with other Google services). The whole alert construct feels like a re-hash of late '90s function from companies like Alerts.com -- but blogging's time sensitivity makes it much more compelling today. I've been using feed-to-email kudges so far and hope this cleans up the process for me.

BlogSearch.Google.com had already been picking up an increasing share of my blog search needs (shaving from Technorati and Bloglines), and I've been waiting for better blog alerting. Marshall noted that default alerting is "Comprehensive" which means Alerts will pull from News, Groups, Search and Blogs -- smart move for Google and good for the blogosphere. Blogs have been separate from news for too long -- it's all a spectrum of information sharing, with a parallel spectrum of quality. Just remember that grouping by Google doesn't mean all bloggers aspire to be journalists ;-)

I've kicked off a couple Google Blog Alerts and we'll see whether Google's execution matches the need. I'm hoping it does...