Google is rolling out a personalized stream of news
articles, videos, and other content to Indian users of its flagship search app
on iOS and Android. This launch is part of a global rollout of the service
called the Feed, after it was first launched in the United States in July this
year.
Shashidhar Thakur, engineering vice president of Google
Search, said the Feed will be initially available in the Google app but they
are working on bringing it to mobile Chrome browser in the future.
"The Feed builds on lot of our experience with search
and learnings from Google Now which was built under the vision that information
should come to the user" Thakur said.
The feed will offer a collection of cards to users showing
news updates across various categories, highlights from their favourite sport
or sports team (scores and news), trending videos and stories based on their
interests or hobbies. It will be available in English and Hindi.
One can tap the three dots on top of each card to follow the
topic or share the story using the Android share sheet.
Certain search queries like movies, authors, sports teams,
music bands/artists and prominent personalities, will also start showing a
"follow" button next to search results for users to start receiving
updates and stories, Thakur said.
On the flip side, one can hide the story item from the feed
or tell Google not to surface content based on the topic or the news source.
One can also tap on "Customize stories" for search for your favorite
topics to follow or unfollow any topics that you had previously followed.
Thakur said the feed will also feature relevant happenings
around the user's location. "For instance, users in India received updates
about recent Mumbai Floods while users in the United States got updates about
the hurricane in Houston."
