No, I’m not talking about the 1990s TV show. This Blossom is a computer bot that’s helping world renowned news entity New York Times.
This Blossom helps NY Times decide which stories to report on social media and filter out which ones to leave alone. For example, did you know that of the 300 stories the NY Times publishes on any given day, only 1/6 make it on it’s Facebook page? Blossom will help with such issues. This intelligent bot is built in the messaging app called Slack. Slack predicts which stories, articles, and blog posts are the best to promote on social media. It collects and studies data, like content and potential performance. Those in the NY Times newsroom query Blossom through the Slack app. If they ask, “Blossom Facebook?”or “Blossom Twitter?” or “Blossom You Tube?” they’ll get answers of which articles might do well. Blossom is the brain child of Alexandra MacCallum. She’s a NY Times asst. managing editor of audience outreach. She leads the charge in finding effective ways to promote stories that go online. Blossom can promote hundreds of stories or urge editors to leave them alone, based on what’s going on socially around them. Blossom is doing well with her task. A post that is approved by Blossom gets read and clicked nearly four times more than non-approved Blossom posts.
Let’s face it: more and more people are blogging these days. You don’t have to be a NY Times journalist to blog. Children can run a blog post. Naturally, this is going to clog up the blogging traffic, and everybody wants to have their articles read and liked. The race for the top SEO spot is more intense every day. Everyone is looking for a way to get that edge over the competition, no matter how big or small it may be. Is Blossom a tool more bloggers can use? Do you see Blossom blossoming among writers and bloggers and journalists alike?