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HitTheTrail
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On some internet news sites (like Fox) they use a rectangle with a right pointing arrow after the headline. I am assuming it means the "news item" is actually a sponsored link. But I have done google and bing searches and can't find an actual definition of the symbol. Anybody know? Here are a couple of examples I have pulled off the news site.
 news symbols
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Cyclopath
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Cyclopath
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 Tue Jan 05, 2016 9:58 am |
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Do the links with that symbol open in a new browser window or tab?
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HitTheTrail
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| Cyclopath wrote: | | Do the links with that symbol open in a new browser window or tab? |
Yes they do in fact. But it make me suspicious that they all read like a sponsored link rather than an actual news item. Aren't sponsored links required to be labeled as such?
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NacMacFeegle
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I too did some googling, and I couldn't dig up any info on it. I think you may be right about them being adds, do the links lead to the same website or do they open to different sites? If they open to the different sites I think there's a good chance the symbol means that they're sponsored links.
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HitTheTrail
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Actually, I just went into some of them and they all went to AOL news articles that had a commercial slant to them.
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Ringangleclaw
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Symbol for an external link
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HitTheTrail
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| Ringangleclaw wrote: | | Symbol for an external link |
Thanks, but one of many it seems.
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Ringangleclaw
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Yes. But you asked what it was.
They are all grossly similar.
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Cyclopath
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Cyclopath
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Tue Jan 05, 2016 12:52 pm |
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There's a standard for how to do it (make a link) in code, which is why it generally works no matter what web site you're on or browser you're using, or even if you're on a desktop computer or a phone. But there's no real standard for how to tell people reading your site that something is a link, or what kind it is. So people are left to their own devices and a lot of them reinvent the wheel.
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HitTheTrail
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OK, now I know what the symbol means. Thanks all. My real question was if it represented a disguised sponsored link. Having read through a few of them some come across like legitimate news articles and some seem to be stealth ads. So maybe it is both.
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Gray
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Gray
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Tue Jan 05, 2016 8:30 pm |
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| HitTheTrail wrote: | | Aren't sponsored links required to be labeled as such? |
No. Who would enforce such a requirement?
I think most people do label them as such because they know a lot of people will just stop coming to their site if they can't trust the links.
--Gray
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mike
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mike
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Tue Jan 05, 2016 9:04 pm |
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Can't you just mouse-over and see where it points? Then clic or not.
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HitTheTrail
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| Gray wrote: | | No. Who would enforce such a requirement? |
I am referring to news bullet items on a news site. Look at Yahoo News for instance. The items listed along with real news items are clearly marked as "sponsored" with a $ sign beside them on the lower right side of the web site at the bottom. I also just read a news item that the FCC was cracking down even harder on such sites because they look so much like news when they are interspersed with news like Yahoo does.
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