On Robotic Content

I use Yahoo Finance as a news source for the companies that I track.? It is the most comprehensive free news source on the web for corporate news.? If you know of a better one, let me know.

That said, I get irritated by robotic content.? Pieces that seemingly have no human hands touching them.? This stuff is low value, even negative value in some cases.

Here are some examples:

  • “Glance” pieces from the AP, where they mention price moves.
  • Anything from Zacks… the level of analysis is low, and they don’t get who a company’s competitors really are, because they rely on computer databases.
  • “Options Now Available For” articles.? That’s not needed.? We all see when new option series are listed, particularly for those that use options frequently.
  • Stock Pops & Drops — from CNBC, not useful.? We all can see what goes up and down, and often there is no significant reasoning on why it goes up or down.
  • Valero Energy Corp. Now #197 Largest Company, Surpassing PPL Corp — Forbes, this stuff is useless.? Who cares about the order of market capitalizations.? Why not do this for Russell 2000 stocks?? It would be absurd.
  • RenaissanceRe Holdings Larger Than S&P 500 Component PerkinElmer — who cares about market cap ranks?
  • Travelers Companies Becomes #15 Most Shorted Dow Stock, Replacing Procter & Gamble –who cares about shorting if it is not severe?

Robotic content is of no value.? Intelligent investors know it already.? Unintelligent investors will not get the significance.

Human interpretation and understanding is valuable, and should be sought after.? I understand the business need to put out “content,” but where is the wisdom that takes raw data, and turns it into knowledge?? That takes a person to do that.? And that is why for now, I screen out robotic content.

4 thoughts on “On Robotic Content

  1. Hi David,

    I’m wondering if you ever use Market Currents, our in-house short-form news feed? We do use some semi-automated content (earnings and dividend reports) that I think are useful. I also am curious as to what you think of Market Currents overall.

    Eli

  2. Scrolled down to the comment section to add what Eli has already posted. I’ve found that market currents are one of the best ways to catch up on new and find ideas. You can also sort by various topics (i.e. consumer, market movers, etc.). You can also show only the news that relates to your portfolio holdings.

    I also use http://www.linkfest.com to get an idea of the most popular finance news.

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