The "Following" feature on Google News will soon show you content of interest to you
Do you use the Google News app on Android and iOS as one of your main sources for news daily? Yesterday we showed you two new Android widgets coming for the app and today we want to pass along some information about new features for the app per 9to5Google. One change is coming to the "Following" tab found at the bottom of the screen. Right now, when you tap that tab, you see suggestions of topics and sources to follow but no content is presented.
When the app is updated, the "Following" tab will present as many as three stories each with the name of the publication it was taken from and an image from the article. You will be able to add topics of interest, specific sources, and certain locations to help hone in on news stories that would be of interest to you. Google says that "articles shown on this page are determined through ranking algorithms that are similar to those used to surface content across Google News.
Google says that the revised "Following" tab for Google News is rolling out soon worldwide to Android users and will be coming to iOS later this year. And Google is also moving its News Showcase licensing program to the U.S. The company has committed to pay $1 billion to news organizations for content from over 700 news organizations. This includes limited free user access to content that is paywalled.
Current Following tab on left, the new Following on the right
The company says, "News Showcase is made up of panels that give news organizations the ability to package the most important stories of the day for readers, providing deeper storytelling and more context through features like timelines, bullets, related stories and a list of important articles. This content currently appears in Google News and Discover, bringing trusted news to readers all over the world."
Lastly, the service known as Subscribe with Google is being rebranded as Reader Revenue Manage. With this feature, Google News users can subscribe to paid content using their Google Account and with auto sign-in, accessing this content is a snap.
If you don't have the Google News app on your phone, tap on this link to install it on your Android phone and or click here to install Google News on your iOS device.
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