Search giant Google has recently announced that it is to launch a Google Feed to its iconic search tools. This will see the company add a stream of videos, news articles and links, and other content that will be customised for each individual user, continuing its battle with social media king Facebook.
Last year, Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, stated that he would like to offer a personalised version of Google to every individual that interacts with the company’s services. It would seem that this is quickly becoming a reality, with the introduction of the Google Feed.
The announcement came in a blog post from Sashi Thakur, the VP of engineering, on Wednesday morning. The feed will be accessible from both iOS and Android devices and will present users with a range of content drawn from the user’s search history and any topics they have chosen to follow.
News Feeds are commonly associated with social media apps such as Facebook and Twitter, and is the place where people get the latest updates from their friends and people they follow. Some would say that as Facebook is Google’s main rival in terms of both online video and advertising, it is no surprise that the search engine has eventually added a feed of its own.
The main difference between the two feeds is that Facebook’s is reliant primarily on the content posted by the user’s connections, while the Google Feed will be powered by the company’s powerful algorithms. With these algorithms processing all the data you input into the site, it has a good idea of the things you search for and will more than likely want to see appearing in your feed.
Users of the Google Feed will be able to customise their feeds by tapping on the three dots icon on the top of each card/post. From here, they are able to follow certain topics or share the content on social media. Furthermore, users will be able to tell Google when they have finished with a particular story so that they can avoid seeing it pop up again in future updates. Users will also be able to tell the company that they do not wish to follow or see any articles from certain publishers, if they wish to do so.
This isn’t the first attempt at a news feed from Google, as it previously offered the Google Now service back in 2012. As a result of the introduction of Google Feed, Now will be taking a step back.
Initially, Google Feed will be offered to users via its smartphone apps, but the company has plans to offer a version of the service for desktop users. Furthermore, it will be easily accessible for Google Pixel owners, who can access it by swiping right on the home screen of the Pixel Launcher.
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