Google took a step closer to competing with Facebook’s core newsfeed service on Wednesday as it announced a new automated “feed” of its own to deepen its connection with users on mobile devices.
Unlike the mobile feeds of services like Facebook and Twitter, though, Google’s version will be based entirely on what the company knows about its users’ interests rather than their social connections, drawing on the personalised data and technology platform already built to support its core search engine.
The Google feed will initially be available only on the company’s main mobile search app, though it will eventually also appear in browsers and on the Google.com page, said Ben Gomes, the company’s vice president of engineering. The prospect of pre-loading information onto the normally pristine search page echoes a short-lived attempt more than a decade ago to turn it into a home for personalised information.