dizzysoft softwareLearn Google’s Opinion of the Presidential Candidates with RSS
Some might say that Google is a know-it-all. Sure he knows a lot of facts on topics that range from the mundane to the profound. We all know people who can quote what other people say, but the really interesting people are those who can think for themselves. You might be tempted to say that about Google, but you’d be wrong. Google has opinions about lots of things. He even has an opinion about the Presidential candidates- even if he can’t vote.
Let me tell you how to get his opinion out of him.
It all starts with the Google Blog Search tool. Ironically, like the Presidential candidates, Google can sometimes seem dodgy to a direct question. You have to ask him his opinion in a very specific way- so he can’t avoid your question.
First of all, you have to use a form of the verb, “to be.” If you would like to know what Google currently thinks about a subject, like the Presidential candidates, you will have to use “is” (or “are” in this case, since there is more than one). You could also ask him what he thinks about the past by using “was- for instance, you could ask who Google thinks the greatest president was. You can also ask him about the future- like who the next president “will be.” If you forget to put this verb in your question, he might give you an opinion that mentions your topic, but not directly related to your topic- he will try to dodge your question.
Second of all, you have to put quotes around the topic you are interested in (including your form of “to be”). Without the quotes he will give you an opinion about matters that relate to parts of your topic, but might have nothing to do with what you want to know. Not only that but without the quotes Google will ignore your “to be” verb. For example, if you ask about the Presidential candidates without the quotes you will get one answer, but with the quotes, he is much more on topic. Like a good moderator at a Presidential debate, you can’t let Google get around your question.
Third, you can’t be too specific. Google is a Renaissance Man- a jack of all trades but a master of none. He knows a lot and has a lot of opinions but he is no specialist. Give him a break- do you think he has all day to sit around and surf the web AND give you an opinion on every topic? Sometimes Presidential candidates have a look upon their face as blank as the page after you ask Google his opinion on something he doesn’t know.
Google isn’t shy about giving his opinion. Like many, Google has lots of opinions some of which are ill-conceived but at other times can be quite profound. However, if you use some of these hints you might be able to get exactly what you are looking for. You might also find it helpful to check out a site like the Google Guide. Here you will find some specific hints on how to communicate to him, considering all his eccentricities.
You might say that this is similar to a Googlism. However, the Googlisms are only pieces and asking Google his opinion through the Blog Search tool you will find a more complete opinion.
The other advantage of using the Google Blog Search tool is that you can get your answers from RSS. Like many, Google’s opinion changes. If you subscribe to the resulting feed, from your question, you can keep up with what he things about the topic on a regular basis.
I think you will find that Google isn’t all that different than many others- his dogmatism on a particular topic only betrays his real insecurity: he holds lots of- sometimes contradictory- opinions at the same time. You can help him through this by making a slight change to the RSS feed. Somewhere in the feed you will see:
&num=10&
Just change the 10 to a 1 and you will get only the top result of all his opinions (and help maintain the illusion that Google has an opinion).
Since Google gives his opinion with RSS, you can also use many of the pre-existing gadgets that can help us parse and use his opinion. For instance, rather than ask Google what he thinks about the Presidential candidates in general, you can use FeedJumbler to keep track of his opinions on each of the candidates and combine them into a single RSS feed.
First ask Google about the simple facts: who are the top presidential candidates in each party? Google directed me to a poll by CNN. As of the writing of this article, the top 5 Democratic candidates are Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Richardson, and Biden. The top 5 Republican candidates are Giuliani, Thompson, McCain, Romney, and Huckabee. Now I ask Google what he thinks about each of these candidates, edit the RSS feed to one item per feed, and give them to the FeedJumbler. Now I have one feed that tells me what Google thinks of each of the top Presidential candidates for each party.
Once you have a single feed can create a gadget to display Google’s opinion on your own website. Feed2JS does this really well. All you have to do now is put the generated code on your web page and the world can see what Google thinks about each of the Presidential Candidates.
As you get to know Google better, I think you will find that is has opinions about many other things outside of the political arena. He has opinions about sports, foods, music, and much more. All you have to do is ask.
If you subscribe to my RSS feed, you can get other helpful articles like this one