Google News Adds Most Popular & Recommended Sections
Google News has added two new sections to its news syndication and reading service, one of which is only available for those Google users who are using their Personalized search function. The two new sections are Most Popular and Recommended.
Philipp Lessen of Google Blogoscoped writes “How does the Most Popular feature work? As opposed to the Google News homepage, which shows the top stories being published by editors on different news sites, this new category will allow you to see what’s most popular with readers of Google News. In a certain way, it’s Digg for Google News.”
For those Google News readers who have activated Google Personalized Search, Google News is also testing a Recommended section which suggests news stories based upon a users’s search history and stories the user has read. Google explains how its Recommended section works:
Google News can suggest news stories just for you. If you have Personalized Search enabled, you can sign in to your Google Account to get recommended news stories based on your past news selections. These stories are highlighted just under the top news stories on your News page, in a clearly marked section. You can also get a full page of recommended stories by clicking on the section.
Here’s how it works: By signing in to personalized news and keeping Personalized Search enabled, you allow Google to track and save your news selections. Then, Google News can automatically recommend relevant stories just for you by using smart algorithms that analyze your selections. The algorithms compare your tastes to the aggregate tastes of other groups of similar Google News users. Simply put, we recommend news stories to you that have been read by many other users who’ve also read similar stories as you in the past.
The more you use Google News while you’re signed in to your Google Account, the better your recommendations will become over time. Note that we cannot provide recommended news for you if you do not sign in to your Google Account or if you turn off Personalized Search component of personalized Google News.
