Google is creating a new feature, called Big Moments, which can compete with rivals Facebook & Twitter in delivering the latest breaking news updates during grand events.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced search engine to act quickly & constantly to its users’ requirements for the latest & most authoritative information, consistent with Google.
A team at the Google are working on the project for over a year, after company struggled to give the latest updates on US Capitol attack in January & Black Lives Matter protests last summer, says The Information, a Silicon Valley supported technology news site.
Big Moments hopes to create upon Google’s Full Coverage feature, which is launched at Google News in 2018 and latterly integrated with its search engine in March of 2021.
Full Coverage allows users to tap into a news headline, and see how that story is reported from different sources.
Google’s attention on breaking news comes when news consumption is surging, and generating big profits for tech companies, as showed by recent testimony of Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen.
The coronavirus pandemic give rise to news consumption for mainstream media and also the use of online & social media, consistent with research conducted in 2020 by Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism & University of Oxford.
About a third of US adults (31 percent) say they get news regularly on Facebook, while 13 percent go on Twitter regularly for news, consistent with a Pew Research study conducted in September.
In contrast, only 11 percent of US adults report using Google News often and around a quarter (24 percent) say they use it sometimes, consistent with a Pew Research study from December.
Giving better resources for breaking news might be a differentiating factor for Google and cause users to shift-time spent on Google’s competitors, consistent with The Information.
While a greater percentage of people get their news from Facebook & Twitter, numerous people do not trust news from social media, consistent with the data from a Reuters & Oxford study.
The research showed 40 percent of respondents said that they’re most concerned about false information on social media in comparison to just 10 precent concerned about Google search.
Unlike social media sites, Google’s Full Coverage feature shows the equivalent view to anyone searching the topic around the world and isn’t personalized to the particular user, says Google in a press release.
Google with this new feature, plans to show the highest authoritative facts about a certain event in real time like death & injury counts and incorporate government data events such as mass shootings or natural calamities, says The Information.
“We’re continually experimenting how to ensure that people who come to Google can find the highest authoritative and up to date information when they require it. This is an unreleased experimental feature right now and will continue-to-evolve,” says a Google prophet.
