Microsoft launches 'Bing Pulse' for tonight's State of The Union address - interact and vote with other viewers

By Michael Archambault
published

Tonight in the United States, the president will deliver his annual State of The Union address. The speech itself will take place at 9 PM Eastern Standard Time and you can tune into the event on FOX News (evidently, Bing Pulse is a partnership with Microsoft and FOX News). As with various past political events, Bing likes to kick their “Bing Pulse” website into action. The site tracks opinions and reactions as President Obama reports on the condition of the nation and the best part is that you can take part!

During tonight’s speech, viewers will be able to watch the event take place live on their televisions while providing their feedback and viewing the feedback of others from around the nation. An implementation into the service will introduce the “intensity score”, a number that helps to highlight key moments of the event when the most people take action and vote. An additional new implementation into the site will also allow users to click on certain parts of the viewable graphs and polls to see exactly what was said during those key moments.

It’s extremely easy (and even fun) to take part in Bing Pulse. If you want to take part in the action, simply head over to Bing.com/politics and you can join in via your computer, tablet or smartphone. The live polls allow people to identify themselves by either gender or political party affiliation – in this regard, you can see how others of the same category are reacting to the same issue.

Microsoft refers to Bing Politics as “a single destination for up-to-the-minute political news, expert information and real-time conversations on major policy issues”. In summary, Bing Politics’ Bing Pulse service will allow viewers to watch a live feed of President Obama’s State of the Union speech, view a graph showing viewer reactions to the president’s comments, real-time news coverage (that can be sorted by left or right wing sources), and finally a live feed of Twitter conversations surrounding the event.

To take part tonight at 9 PM EST, simply head over to Bing.com/politics when the event starts.

Will you be watching the State of the Union address tonight?

Source: Microsoft (opens in new tab)

Michael Archambault
Michael Archambault
34 Comments
  • It's Fox so I won't trust them for anything political..
  • Amen!
  • I hate to use the phrase ditto because of its' unfortunate associations so I will say, I concur.
  • So who do you trust for political news? Please don't say MSNBC. LOL
  • It will be a live broadcast. No editing unlike other stations....
  • What's sad is how many get their news from Comedy Central.
  • Third most informed audience of those that stick with only one source according to Fairleigh Dickinson University’s newest PublicMind survey. http://www.businessinsider.com/study-watching-fox-news-makes-you-less-informed-than-watching-no-news-at-all-2012-5 Least informed? Those that watch Fox News.
  • delete please
  • Online chatting about the SOTU address with a bunch of Fox News fans should be delightful. To quote The Simpsons: "Fox News. Not racist but #1 with racists."
  • Looking forward to it. They run the pulse during the panel on Brett Baiers show and its a fun way to provide feedback.
  • LOzl to these comments! It looks like JG Wentworth has been yet again reincarnated as Wake Me Up! I love it!!!
  • "You didn't build that"
    "You can keep your insurance"
    "If I had a son..."
  • An app announcement turned into a political, finger pointing bashathon. Great way to stay on topic on a technology blog. Good job guys, pat yourself on the back and head home for the day. You're done.
  • Truth.
  • you want the best go woth cnn. its funny how fox news show clips of msnbc and msnbc show clips of fox news, but hey the both are the top rated news channels ( no surprise there) .
  • If you want the best news watch The Daily Show...
  • serious question do fox news or msnbc news ever show and documentarys ???
  • I don't know about Fox, but MSNBC has produced a number of documentaries. Also, their show LockUp is a documentary series about prison, and it's really good. (And not political.)
  • So much dumb political talk instead of focusing on this cool interactive technology. Save your partisan tripe to use in the app. Your opinion of the Prez or Fox is irrelevant to the app. So what if it's Fox powered, its not an opinion broadcast. So what if you don't like Obama, he's who we have and this is one of the Presidential duties. People act like children when politics enters the conversation. Its no wonder we can't have any good dialog in Washington or in our homes. The app seems cool, by the way. If I watch the speech, I'll definitely interact and hopefully there will be people with their own opinions and not just the left vs right crap.
  • I will say that they should make a full time app that works during any major speeches or coverage of significant events and during election cycles.
  • Why did I look at the comments? WHY!!!?!?!
  • LMAO...subconsciously, I think you knew it was going to happen but your mind and heart gave you some hope that it may not happen, and here you are - disappointed. I can empathize with you and feel your pain...
  • Why did I even decide to look at the comments. *Facepalm*
  • New to the internet? I remember news about a family in Lovelock, NV getting lost turn into a huge political battle in the comment section.  It's nothing new and pretty much to be expected.  Did you really think that even a posting about an app who's main line is "make your voice heard during the State of the Union" wasn't going to turn into "making your voice heard." Was it really necessary to delete all that?    Aren't we mature enough to handle some politics?   Is the irony of deleting having "your voice heard" lost on the moderators?
  • Is the only place to gauge the results on Fox? Or is this powered by Fox? Because if so, then its valid to have opinions about it. A lot of people don't view Fox as a legitimate news outlet. I know I don't. So it affects the acceptance/usage of this service. I dont allow anything Fox News, in my home, or my sphere, so I am prevented from using what sounds like it could have been really decent service. I think it doesn't have to devolve into a political battle, in comments, but if it will affect the app's usage, the affiliation, with Fox, versus, say, CNN, seems an important distinction.
  • I hope you live alone as it would be unfair to a wife, children or roommates to not be "allowed" to have anything Fox related in your sphere.
  • This is the choir to which one preaches.  Besides, The Pulse wasn't about Fox News commentary.  Geesh people can't see what's in front of them without putting on their partisan war armor.  I'm not sure how one knows what is "legitimate" if they don't "allow" it in their life.  Anyway, I'll move on to those not so intellectually lazy. Did anyone actually use the site during the debate? Did having an interactive outlet enhance the speech watching experience?
  • What!?!? Are you mad? Of course my question, was legitimate. I asked if Pulse results were aggregated by, or only viewable, in conjunction with Fox. What's not legitimate about that??? Tell me? Just because I elucidated my reasons why that was anathema, to me, for context, it didnt invalidate my question. Really? Come on, Dude. You need help. Can anyone answer my question, without going all Ted Cruz, on me?
  • If you can't see why your bias feeds into your question lacking legitimacy, then i can't help you.  This is like going to a sports even sponsored by Coke and refusing to enter because you like Pepsi.  It doesn't matter.  I believe your observations on need for assistance need to be directed in the mirror, sir.  You know nothing about my political leanings, but obviously assume anyone who disagrees with you on anything must be "all Ted Cruz".  If you got over yourself and just went to the Pulse site, you might find what you are looking for. 
  • Lol. You guys are hilarious! You assume that my family doesn't share my views... But that wasn't even close to my point. But you wanted to assume some attack stance? Of course I've had my intelligence insulted by Fox's nonsense. How else would one take a reasoned stance against the lies, and spin? Anyway, like I said. MS could have chosen CNN, if they wanted to avoid partisan accusation, or, one of the network news outlets, if they felt they needed a news partner. Notice I didn't say MSNBC, ironically (since its in the name, duh!) Before any mental giants try to "inform" me, yes, we know that MS no longer owns an interest in MSNBC. But that would have been polarizing to the Right, hence, also ,not the best idea. Keep your ad hominem, personal attacks to yourselves, next time, please. #tedious.com
  • Priceless. Complaining about ad hominem by using ad hominem , straw men and numerous rhetological fallacies.
  • Plus, my question was legitimate. If the results pointed to Fox, what would be the point in my involvement? Wouldn't watch their broadcast, to even see the aggregated results. My original comment was a request for clarification. And is still unanswered...
  • Unfortunately, your question isn't legitimate. It is based in bias against a brand.  The service was simply live broadcasting and running polls of anyone who wanted to participate, it was not a broadcast of their opinion of the speech.   Since you have such a fanatical anti-network that tends to communicate opinions that you don't agree with, then just don't participate.  Simple. 
  • Chi28n2k, Don't expect a real answer from these people.   Exsanguine can barely crank out a sentence without making up his own phrases like "rhetological."   As far as dalydose, I would not expect much from him either, I've already seen the quality of his responses and it is lacking. I fail to see where bias against a brand is not legitimate.   For that matter I am biased towards Windows Phone devices and prefer them to either Android or Apple devices and hence I buy WP devices and write on this site.   Just the fact that I have such a bias cannot be said to be illegitimate without a detailed analysis of the criteria I used to come to the decision.   Given I have not stated the criteria nor did you state a detailed list of criteria as to why you believe Fox to be inappropriate other than a couple of general statements about "lies and spin" then people like dalydose making a pronouncement that such a conclusion is illegitimate is so much "intellectual laziness" to use his phrase. I certainly do not have an answer to your question as to whether or not the association with Fox has in any way skewed the information presented, but I can say that I did not install the program and that like you I prefer to avoid the Fox brand.   It is well know that even issues such as polls are strongly determined by the phrasing of the questions or lack of poll choices.