With the launch of Google News Badges, we are one step closer to seeing Eli Pariser’s Filter Bubble in full swing…

Google’s News’ rise up the ranks of news sources has been cause for alarm for some social commentators. And it’s not because the big wigs in the news want to hang onto power. There is a much deeper and disturbing cause for concern…

In the Filter Bubble, Eli Pariser writes in detail about the impact Google’s news service will have on society and news in the coming years, undermining this sacred pillar of democracy that we take for granted (heh – too dramatic? 😉

Traditionally, publishers choose what is newsworthy. They create the tone, curate the content, and ensure the variety, relevance, and integrity is maintained. This means exposing readers to some things that they may not want to see. This approach to news is highly regulated, raises the collective consciousness of issues that affect us all, and was founded as a means of avoiding WWII style of propaganda. It fights extremism, encouraging a shared understanding of the world around us.

Enter Google’s News service. Over time, Google learns what you like, and presents you with things that you will click on. So all of a sudden, we have become our own curators of news. Useful huh? Yes, for the individual, but not so much for the collective consciousness of society. It encourages a continually narrowing view of the world.

Only want news about sport? Just like that, you’ll be a sports nut, and won’t hear a think about the Arab Spring. Want to hear about gadgets – you’ll be a geek in no time, and successfully avoid anything about global warming.

Google is taking you one step closer to the Daily Me, a newspaper of your own news, curated by you, using your own positive feedback loop to decide what it thinks is important. And Google news badges will provide a sense of pride to those holed up in their own microcosms of news.

Google itself defines news as Newly received or noteworthy information, esp. about recent or important events. But surely news is no longer news when you know what you are going to see – place the definition of “important” and “noteworthy” with the end user, and you’re left with a self-affirming set of information, with weaker connections to society as a whole.

Is news news when you write it yourself?