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Washington Post’s ‘Bandito’ Tool Optimizes Content for Clicks

wsj.com

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Re: Washington Post’s ‘Bandito’ Tool Optimizes Content for Clicks

#21

Post by glass55 »

AznHisoka wrote: post #5

So... this is just A/B testing? What's so newsworthy about this? Would've been really something if it could optimize content that's not going to be seen by 100,000 people. Kinda hard to A/B test something that will only have 1000 pageviews in its lifetime.

> So... this is just A/B testing?

Tricking people intro visiting the same link over and over again in a short period of time to generate more clicks isn't really A/B testing. That's click-baiting . It might even lead to a negative effect on the long run as people feel they are being tricked at some point.

Re: Washington Post’s ‘Bandito’ Tool Optimizes Content for Clicks

#22

Post by joelthelion »

huac wrote: post #6

'bandito' likely comes from multi-armed bandit, a technique for implementing a/b tests ( https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2844870?hl=en )

Also used for game AI, like the MCTS that dominated computer go for ten years.

Re: Washington Post’s ‘Bandito’ Tool Optimizes Content for Clicks

#23

Post by cbowal »

blatherard wrote: post #11

The WaPo-owned slate.com has been doing frequent renaming of articles for a while now. I suspect they've been a testbed for Bandito or a similar system. One very frustrating side-effect is that I am often drawn to click on the same article multiple times. That's because it shows markedly different headlines for the same article, sometimes even on the same page simultaneously. Case in point, as of right now, slate sho…

I've just noticed Vox.com doing this too - very annoying.

Re: Washington Post’s ‘Bandito’ Tool Optimizes Content for Clicks

#24

Post by 1812Overture »

blatherard wrote: post #11

The WaPo-owned slate.com has been doing frequent renaming of articles for a while now. I suspect they've been a testbed for Bandito or a similar system. One very frustrating side-effect is that I am often drawn to click on the same article multiple times. That's because it shows markedly different headlines for the same article, sometimes even on the same page simultaneously. Case in point, as of right now, slate sho…

My favorite is on Bloomberg where as the market moves throughout the day you'll see: "Markets up on good jobs numbers" "Markets unmoved by good jobs numbers" "Markets down despite good jobs numbers" I actually wonder if they have an algorithm automatically changing the headlines.

Re: Washington Post’s ‘Bandito’ Tool Optimizes Content for Clicks

#25

Post by alanh »

blatherard wrote: post #11

The WaPo-owned slate.com has been doing frequent renaming of articles for a while now. I suspect they've been a testbed for Bandito or a similar system. One very frustrating side-effect is that I am often drawn to click on the same article multiple times. That's because it shows markedly different headlines for the same article, sometimes even on the same page simultaneously. Case in point, as of right now, slate sho…

I recently noticed a very poorly named / linked article on the New York Times. Something to the effect of “What’s Next for Hillary”, only to find an article with 8 paragraphs, each merely summarizing the primary results for 8 candidates after New Hampshire. It was a stunningly bad title and I was distinctly left with the feeling I didn’t get what I came for and that the clickworthyist link text was chosen instead of an accurate title.

Re: Washington Post’s ‘Bandito’ Tool Optimizes Content for Clicks

#26

Post by alanh »

AznHisoka wrote: post #5

So... this is just A/B testing? What's so newsworthy about this? Would've been really something if it could optimize content that's not going to be seen by 100,000 people. Kinda hard to A/B test something that will only have 1000 pageviews in its lifetime.

You seem to be lacking perspective. The deterioration of both journalism and basic respect for the reader isn’t “just” anything.

Re: Washington Post’s ‘Bandito’ Tool Optimizes Content for Clicks

#27

Post by ratfacemcgee »

blatherard wrote: post #11

The WaPo-owned slate.com has been doing frequent renaming of articles for a while now. I suspect they've been a testbed for Bandito or a similar system. One very frustrating side-effect is that I am often drawn to click on the same article multiple times. That's because it shows markedly different headlines for the same article, sometimes even on the same page simultaneously. Case in point, as of right now, slate sho…

its not just U.S. based, news.com.au does it too.

Re: Washington Post’s ‘Bandito’ Tool Optimizes Content for Clicks

#28

Post by AznHisoka »

alanh wrote: post #26
AznHisoka wrote: post #5

So... this is just A/B testing? What's so newsworthy about this? Would've been really something if it could optimize content that's not going to be seen by 100,000 people. Kinda hard to A/B test something that will only have 1000 pageviews in its lifetime.

You seem to be lacking perspective. The deterioration of both journalism and basic respect for the reader isn’t “just” anything.

Actually, my comment was from a different perspective. The article seemed to talk about the technology as it was complex, and ground-breaking. I'm saying.. it's not so special - it's just A/B testing, not some rocket science thought up from Mr. Bezos. I actually agree with you - I hate this too.
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