Google is experimenting with Big Moments, a service that will have the task of covering breaking news. Or, for those unfamiliar with English, the news in real time.
In short, it would be a new way to show the users of the Menlo Park giant the main news during their development. Now the information is this, and it is played on instantaneity. At one time we seemed to find the freshest news in the paper newspapers, and we turned to the weeklies and monthlies for further information. Until yesterday, the Net and social networks gave the latest news, and the newspapers had become the tools for in-depth analysis.
Today we live the news from the inside, in their unfolding, and the news that appears on social platforms are already somewhat dated. The Google Big Moments functionality should go in this direction, capable of providing users with information in real time and continuously updated.
Let’s find out what has been leaked so far about an instrument that is still on an experimental basis.
Google Big Moments: what we know
The news was previewed by Bloomberg on Friday 8 October.
Everything is still in its infancy, including the name – Google Big Moments – used internally by the company and completely unofficially.
Instead, there seems to be a certain clarity about what it will have to become. It will be about a service that will make available to Google users news and content related to events that are taking place in real time, of great media impact. And whose developments and outcomes people wish to follow.
Do we want to give some examples? Sporting events in progress or award ceremonies. But also counting of votes following electoral rounds, or natural disasters. Or, again, any news event that keeps you breathless, happy or tragic. And for which the most curious public cannot be satisfied with periodic updates from social networks, or even less crowded ones from the news.
Inspiration (and competitors)
The feeling is that Google Big Moments is an intuition stemming from the Coronavirus pandemic. Which has made us more and more eager for quick updates on the progress of infections, deaths and healings. And subsequently on the developments of the vaccination campaign.
It comes naturally to think of Google Big Moments, when its use will be effective, like competitor di Twitter. Which over the years has become (especially in the United States and the United Kingdom) the social platform of reference for those who want to discuss in real time what is happening in the world.
Google does not deny it
The company does not deny it, and for other sources it has even already entered the testing phase of Google Big Moments.
It could be an evolution of what is basically already happening. As for sporting events, for example, Google updates them extremely quickly.
But, as we have already said, the most formative training ground was the pandemic from Covid-19, during which the company has periodically modified, refining it, the method to show the latest and most authoritative news. But also useful information and updates on infections.
In the meantime, a company spokesperson said: “We are continually experimenting with new solutions that ensure that you turn to Google and find the most authoritative and up-to-date information when you need it.. Any feature or novelty of our tools has to go through a rigorous testing process and evaluations to make sure it’s an added value for people ”.
Topics to be covered
Nothing leaks about the technical characteristics of Google Big Moments. We don’t know how it will work, nor when the launch will take place. Nor what will be the news selection criteria that users will be able to follow in real time.
All sources agree that the sorting will be entrusted not to a team of people but to algorithms.
We have learned over the years to no longer perceive the Google search engine as a tool that merely shows us what we are looking for, but also as a window on the world, which informs us and anticipates our requests.
Google Big Moments will go even faster in this direction.
Google vs Twitter
Bloomberg remembers how Twitter’s investiture as a breaking news platform is also partly due to a close agreement with Google. It was 2015, and the pact stipulated that the search engine would post tweets at the top of search results for topical topics.
It’s not hard to speculate that Google Big Moments’ entry onto the scene could call this deal into question. Although, when asked to do so, the spokespersons of both Twitter and Google did not respond.