Google will only continue to improve its products, services, and algorithms to ensure that everything offers the people good experience and correct information all the time. Google is said to focus more on the local news now. Specifically, Google will be putting spotlight on local news sources as a special tag. Don’t be confused once you see that “Local Source” Tag because that will be used to surface local coverage of news.
Most people follow the local news more in a given neighborhood instead of the bigger state or global news. Catching up on news and current events is something you should be doing everyday. It’s important to be informed and updated with what’s happening in your communities. Problem is, there are too many information that they can already be overwhelming.
Google News for one has tens of thousands of sources available. About 75,000 news sources can be accessed with a few clicks. The goal is to archive and categorize the stories and links on different locales and topics. Google gathers different content from local blogs to regional papers. Most of these sources won’t make it to national news but Google wants to get them to serve to the people.
Google targets to give voice to the local storytellers and reporters. By using the “Local Source” tag, those sources will be given the opportunity to be heard. This way, people are given different perspectives. This means more exposure for local news outlet and not just the bigger sources out there. Just check on the articles tagged with “Local Source” on Google News apps or news.google.com.
One example of a local reporter taking advantage of Google News is Hilde Lysiak. She’s a 9-year-old reporter that was recently acknowledged after reporting a murder story in her hometown. She posted her article on her new site and then later on was picked up by major national newspapers. Google believes that anyone can help and share information as long as they are accurate. The search giant invited the little girl at the Googleplex on World Press Freedom Day 2016 just to acknowledge her good work. She may be young to cover the news but Google believes in press freedom.
SOURCE: Google News Blog
