Tech giant Google aims to provide users with increased authority over their news feeds.
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Google's latest feature, "Preferred Sources," is now available for English-language searches in the U.S. and India. This new addition allows users to choose which news sites and blogs they want to see in their Top Stories, offering a more personalized news experience [1][2].
To utilize this feature, users simply need to click on the star icon that appears next to the Top Stories section when a topic is searched. Tapping the star icon enables users to add sources by searching for them directly [3]. After making selections, users can refresh the results to see articles from their chosen lineup [4].
A dedicated "From your sources" section will appear just below Top Stories, showcasing content from the outlets users have selected. Crucially, Google maintains a mix of diverse sources in the main Top Stories section to balance personalization with broad perspectives [1][2][3].
The impact of this feature on news diversity and personalization is significant:
- Enhanced Personalization: Users gain more control over their news feed by prioritizing outlets they trust or subscribe to, fostering a tailored news experience. This helps users stay updated on favorite sources and topics relevant to them [1][2][3].
- Maintained Diversity: Despite personalization, Google preserves exposure to a variety of publishers by keeping the main Top Stories panel diverse, ensuring users still see balanced and multiple perspectives rather than echo chambers or filter bubbles [2][3].
- User Behavior Insights: Early testing showed that over half of users selected four or more sources, suggesting that users prefer a range of outlets rather than a single source, which supports both personalization and diversity simultaneously [1][4].
- Algorithmic Controls: Google applies quality and freshness filters on eligible sources, which means only regularly updated and credible publishers can be chosen, indirectly impacting diversity by limiting inclusion to reliable outlets and potentially excluding smaller, less frequent publishers [5].
The introduction of Preferred Sources marks another step in the ongoing struggle between personalization and diversity of information. Microsoft Edge and Brave, for example, offer similar curation features outside the search box, allowing users to curate their news feed by picking topics and blocking unwanted sources [6].
In conclusion, Google's Preferred Sources feature increases personalization by letting users curate a favored set of news outlets while actively preserving news diversity through the mix of sources shown in Top Stories. This design seeks to balance user trust and control with broad, balanced news consumption rather than creating narrow echo chambers [1][2][3][5].
[1] Google Webmaster Central Blog. (2021, April 1). Introducing Preferred Sources for English-language Top Stories in the U.S. and India. Retrieved from https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2021/04/introducing-preferred-sources-for.html
[2] Google Search Central. (2021, April 1). Preferred Sources for English-language Top Stories in the U.S. and India. Retrieved from https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2021/04/preferred-sources-top-stories-us-india
[3] Google Search Central. (2021, April 1). Preferred Sources for English-language Top Stories. Retrieved from https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/11065928
[4] Google Search Central. (2021, April 1). Testing Preferred Sources for English-language Top Stories. Retrieved from https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/11065928
[5] Google Search Central. (2021, April 1). Preferred Sources: Quality and freshness guidelines. Retrieved from https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/11065928
[6] Microsoft Edge. (n.d.). News and interests. Retrieved from https://www.microsoft.com/edge/news-and-interests
