Re: [backstage] BBC website review: Site failing to act as 'trusted guide
Martin, 2008/6/2 Martin Belam [EMAIL PROTECTED]: One thing I find delnaive/del interesting here is (and I could be wrong because I haven't waded through all of the reports) is that they don't seem to have a benchmark of what other similar sites might expect their figures to be for internal search use versus external search use. I've read though the whole document now (I got stuck on a train the other day) and I have to say that the whole thing seems just a little bit 'out of date' as a general idea. I can't for the lift of me understand why the BBC would want to run a search engine in the first place. Search engines are used to get those all important queries that you can run adverts against. Given that the bbc.co.uk site doesn't have adverts that seems a bit of a waste of time. I could see the BBC having a special search engine for, say, children. That would make sense. But you could do this using a customzied Google search and not have it cost a penny. Another way the BBC could do it, perhaps, would be to support a public domain search engine project. Perhaps. IMHO the internal search engine is not that brilliant. It is of no use whatsoever for finding breaking news and all those other things that I tend to use Google for. I would be happy to expand if required. The concern that the Trust seems to have is that BBC Search isn't keeping up with Google, Live Search etc. Nor do they seem to have given any indication of what they think the 'right' balance would be, or whether they think other sites might also experiencing a drop-off in site search usage The trend appears to be downwards (just) and for Google, Live Search etc is it up. That's as sophisticated as it gets. m - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/ -- Please email me back if you need any more help. Brian Butterworth http://www.ukfree.tv - independent digital television and switchover advice, since 2002
Re: [backstage] BBC website review: Site failing to act as 'trusted guide
2008/5/29 Jeremy Stone [EMAIL PROTECTED]: A few interesting points picked out by the guardian ;) Yes, they do have a rather vested interest. I have to say that I do rather agree that the BBC search engine is bloody awful. It comes as no surprise that people are not using it! Ever tried to find a breaking news story using it? Also, I have to say that the idea of a trusted guide is so- so- old-fashioned. I thought we were all over portals. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Brian Butterworth Sent: Thu 5/29/2008 5:20 PM To: backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk Subject: [backstage] BBC website review: Site failing to act as 'trusted guide A few interesting points... http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/29/bbc.digitalmedia1 et al The BBC Trust also found that bbc.co.uk's internal search engine is not effective and its usage is declining. Referrals from the internal search engine declined from 24% of total bbc.co.uk traffic to 19% between the last quarter of 2006 and the same period last year, the trust noted. The trust cited figures of low levels of usage for the BBC's web search service - around 3 million monthly users, compared with 28 million for Google and 6 million each for Yahoo, MSN and Ask. In the context of a web search market which has become increasingly commercially attractive, we have considered whether there is a role for a public service engine, said the BBC Trust. - bbc.co.uk's service licence states that it should act as a trusted guide to the internet, guiding users to the wider web and linking to external websites with high public value - the BBC Trust said it was disappointed to see findings that showed that in July 2007 there were just 4.6 million click-throughs by UK users from bbc.co.uk to external websites, with an overall pattern trending downwards - comments from the public consultation and research suggest that the ineffectiveness and inaccessibility of the links is the main factor preventing greater usage. - We are [also] not convinced that BBC management's ambition to be 'part of' the web rather than 'on it' by embedding BBC content on other sites, such as YouTube, plays any role in acting as a 'trusted guide' to the wider web, the BBC Trust added. Rather, this is mainly a way of marketing BBC content to those who might not otherwise access it. - The report pointed out that as recently as January 2008, BBC executives had predicted that bbc.co.uk would only be about 5% over budget for the financial year. In fact, the trust's own review carried out in December 2007 was showing the bbc.co.uk annual budget had been blown by 48%. --- Brian Butterworth http://www.ukfree.tv - independent digital television and switchover advice, since 2002 -- Please email me back if you need any more help. Brian Butterworth http://www.ukfree.tv - independent digital television and switchover advice, since 2002
Re: [backstage] BBC website review: Site failing to act as 'trusted guide
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/regulatory_framework/service_licences/service_reviews/report_bbc.co.uk_review.pdf
RE: [backstage] BBC website review: Site failing to act as 'trusted guide
A few interesting points picked out by the guardian ;) -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Brian Butterworth Sent: Thu 5/29/2008 5:20 PM To: backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk Subject: [backstage] BBC website review: Site failing to act as 'trusted guide A few interesting points... http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/29/bbc.digitalmedia1 et al The BBC Trust also found that bbc.co.uk's internal search engine is not effective and its usage is declining. Referrals from the internal search engine declined from 24% of total bbc.co.uk traffic to 19% between the last quarter of 2006 and the same period last year, the trust noted. The trust cited figures of low levels of usage for the BBC's web search service - around 3 million monthly users, compared with 28 million for Google and 6 million each for Yahoo, MSN and Ask. In the context of a web search market which has become increasingly commercially attractive, we have considered whether there is a role for a public service engine, said the BBC Trust. - bbc.co.uk's service licence states that it should act as a trusted guide to the internet, guiding users to the wider web and linking to external websites with high public value - the BBC Trust said it was disappointed to see findings that showed that in July 2007 there were just 4.6 million click-throughs by UK users from bbc.co.uk to external websites, with an overall pattern trending downwards - comments from the public consultation and research suggest that the ineffectiveness and inaccessibility of the links is the main factor preventing greater usage. - We are [also] not convinced that BBC management's ambition to be 'part of' the web rather than 'on it' by embedding BBC content on other sites, such as YouTube, plays any role in acting as a 'trusted guide' to the wider web, the BBC Trust added. Rather, this is mainly a way of marketing BBC content to those who might not otherwise access it. - The report pointed out that as recently as January 2008, BBC executives had predicted that bbc.co.uk would only be about 5% over budget for the financial year. In fact, the trust's own review carried out in December 2007 was showing the bbc.co.uk annual budget had been blown by 48%. --- Brian Butterworth http://www.ukfree.tv - independent digital television and switchover advice, since 2002
