Google is yet again attempting to encourage users to spend more time on its search app. This attempt is called Google feed, and it was first announced back in July for Android users in the US. Today, Google announced that the feature will soon be rolling out for Android users in India, followed by users on iOS.
Personalized Google feed, as the name suggests, essentially shows cards on the Google app based on the user’s interests. The idea behind personalized feeds is to help users get relevant search results without really having to type in a query in the search bar. The topics for these feed cards will be determined by Google using machine learning.
How it works
The Google feed will show up on the homepage when you open the search app on your phone. While many will no doubt find similarities between Google feed and Google Now, the difference here is the layout, and the content itself. Google feed boasts a more dynamic layout, with user’s calendar and email related updates kept to a separate page.
The feed itself comprises of a few features. Follow Topics lets you closely follow a particular person or topic, and all information related to them will show up in the feed. You can follow new interests, and also choose to unfollow a topic or interest. A broader context is also provided when searching for a topic. So, for example, if you are looking for information about a movie, feed will show up the release date, or show timings at your nearby theaters. While researching a topic, another feature will show up relevant posts, even if they are quite old.
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Customizing Google feed
As you can guess, the more you use the Google Search app, the better it becomes at coming up with information based on your interests. Using machine learning, the app is also able to gauge which topics interest the user more. So, in case someone like me is a tad more interested in Football than Cricket, the feed will give more prominence to content about my favorite Premier League team.
One can customize or highlight particular topics of interest. To do this in the app, head over to Menu -> Customize -> Follow Topics. Similarly, one can remove particular interest, or even block publications from showing up on the feed.
Though you cannot really remove a particular card in the feed, Google does give you a few options like ‘Hide the story’, ‘Not interested in stories from the website’, ‘Customize stories’, or ‘Send feedback’. These options can be found by tapping the three dots icon at the top of every feed.
Google feed is being rolled out for Android users in India. Google also promises that the feature will roll out for iOS soon. While restricted to the apps for now, Shashi Thakur, VP (Engineering), Search said that the company is working on eventually bringing similar feeds to the Chrome browser as well.
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