Your Discover feed may never be the same again. Google is testing the integration of social media posts into its news feed. A decision that could well shake up the balance between information and distraction.
Google Discover has established itself in recent years as a quick entry point to the news. Accessible with a single tap from the Android home screen, it offers a personalized content feed. This feed is based on browsing history, recent searches, and topics followed by the user. Until now, the results mainly included press articles, YouTube videos, sports or cultural news, and some thematic content related to interests.
But this formula could be about to change. According to several reports relayed by 9to5Google, some users are discovering a new version of Discover. This ongoing test integrates carousels of publications from social networks like Instagram or X. These publications are added directly to the feed, between traditional articles. Everything takes the form of horizontal galleries, with the possibility of scrolling through several publications in a row. The selection seems to be based on popularity. or the frequency of interaction.
Social media posts appear in Discover, at the risk of diluting useful information
Each block displayed provides access to all of the latest content from a single account. This format is found with certain YouTube videos, and now with social media. The idea could be to modernize Discover by integrating formats that appeal to a younger audience. For Google, this would also strengthen engagement with more visual content, shorter, and more regular. The test remains limited, but could expand if the feedback is deemed positive.
But this new feature is causing debate. Some fear that Discover will lose its primary function: to quickly inform about important topics. The addition of social content, sometimes irrelevant, could blur the hierarchy of information. This development comes shortly after other attempts at redesign, such as full-screen display or an edge-to-edge interface. Google seems to want to make this app more interactive, even if it means disrupting habits. The challenge will be to avoid transforming the tool into a simple entertainment feed.
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