Prabhakar Raghavan, Google's head of search, acknowledged the dissatisfaction of users when enquired about the Reddit blackouts and their consequences on the outcomes. Raghavan stated the firm is conducting different assessments to enhance search outcomes for more true responses. On Monday, Google released a new feature named Perspectives, which will reveal discussion forums and videos from social media outlets such as TikTok, YouTube, Reddit and Quora.
Google users have long been able to find helpful resources about specific topics by appending their search queries with the term "Reddit." However, this technique became less effective when thousands of Reddit forums went dark earlier this month due to a widespread protest against Reddit's decision to start charging developers for access to its data. In an effort to address this issue, Google has unveiled a new feature called Perspectives that can be accessed from the mobile web and the Google app in the U.S. This tab brings forward discussion forums and videos from platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, Reddit and Quora. At an all-hands meeting, Prabhakar Raghavan, Google's senior vice president in charge of search, shared that the company was working on improving the user experience, so that people don't need to add "Reddit" to their searches. Raghavan was responding to a comment from an employee about users being unhappy with too many ads and irrelevant results. To stay ahead of competitors, Google is experimenting with Search Generative Experience, which uses generative artificial intelligence to offer more sophisticated and conversational answers. They have also launched Bard, a ChatGPT rival, although it is still in its experimental stage and separate from search.
At the companywide meeting, an employee asked if Google can find ways to surface more "authentic discussion" since the "Reddit blackout" had made it difficult to discover such content. CEO Sundar Pichai answered that people don't want "blue links" anymore, they prefer "comprehensive answers" which is why they search sites like Reddit. VP of Search Engineering HJ Kim remarked that users have been asking for more content from Reddit, and the Perspectives tab is one feature they've been working on in response. Mr. Kim also noted that they have created multiple cross-functional teams to look at this kind of content, but need to do a better job with it. Google's Head of Search Sreeraman Raghavan stated that Google would assess which content is gaining the most traction. He explained that they are utilizing AI, but that will not be the only solution to the problem - with experiments like Perspectives as one example. Google spokeswoman, Lara Levin commented, in a statement to CNBC, that their search fulfills the "overwhelming majority of user needs" and that their mission is to make sure people can access "the most helpful info" from various sources and formats.
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