Mountain View, California — Google News is currently experimenting with a new element that allows users to incorporate their Twitter accounts with the news aggregator, according to a report from Search Engine Land, which was discovered by a reader who apparently saw the experiment in action and posted a snapshot of what it looked like on Twitter.
For the experiment, known simply as “Friends,” Google has added a small box that appears at the right-hand side of the page that permits users to login with their Twitter credentials and then “see when people you follow are talking about the news.” If you enter your Twitter user-name into the open text box and hit “save,” a list of updates featuring news articles by those you follow will appear.
According to the tech blog site Search Engine Land, which has even discovered a help page about the experiment. Here is Google’s description:
In the open text box, enter your Twitter user-name and click “Save.” Google News will refresh, and you will see a list of updates containing news articles shared by the people you follow. Please note that Friends only shows you articles that can be found in Google News. If someone you follow has shared an article or a link that cannot be found in Google News, then you will not see that update in the Friends section.
To change the user-name you wish to follow, click on “Edit.” Enter the new user-name in the text field and click “Save changes.”
Nevertheless, we have yet to see if and when Google will make this feature more widely available, this experiment seems pretty consistent with recent attempts to make Google News more customizable. A few months ago, Google News began featuring a “News For You” section based on users’ particular interests. At this time, the site was also revamped to highlight location-specific, breaking news alongside less time-sensitive pieces.
Recently commenting about Google’s plans to become more social, CEO Eric Schmidt said the company was not planning to introduce any kind of massive Facebook competitor, as some had speculated, but intended to add “a social layer” to its existing services by collecting in data from places like Facebook and Twitter. The experiment with Google News appears to be part of that plan, although whether it will make it to prime time or not — and whether people will actually use it — remains to be seen.