Google has introduced a new tool called Perspectives in response to user annoyance about the restricted search results brought on by the recent Reddit outage. By displaying discussion forums and videos from multiple social media sites like TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, and Quora, the Perspectives tab, which is currently accessible on the mobile web and the Google app in the U.S., attempts to improve search results.
Google’s senior vice president in charge of search, Prabhakar Raghavan, praised the company’s dedication to enhancing customer happiness during an all-hands meeting. Employees’ worries about unfavorable customer feedback including too many advertising and irrelevant results were addressed by Raghavan. He underlined the need to improve the core offering and satisfy customers.
In order to stay competitive and take advantage of generative artificial intelligence (AI) breakthroughs, Google is continually attempting to update its search capabilities. A project dubbed Search Generative Experience, which offers more complex and conversational responses to text-based searches, is being tested by the business. Additionally, early last year Google unveiled Bard, a rival to ChatGPT. Although Bard is currently at the experimental stage and independent from search, it demonstrates Google’s commitment to investigating AI-driven solutions.
During the meeting, one employee spoke about the challenge of discovering genuine discussions given that the Reddit blackout had restricted access to such content. Users include the names of discussion forums like Reddit in their searches because they want “more comprehensive answers” as opposed to simply “blue links,” according Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
According to HJ Kim, vice president of engineering for search, people have been asking for more material on websites like Reddit. He acknowledged that there is potential for improvement and identified the Perspectives tab as one of the features created in response to these requests.
Raghavan underlined the significance of answering queries with a range of viewpoints and giving prompt responses without requiring users to add further search keywords. He said he was happy with the early engagement with the Perspectives feature that was shown. While generative AI is important, Raghavan made it clear that it cannot resolve the problem by itself. The experiment Perspectives is being performed by specialized teams at Google.
The majority of user demands are met by search, according to Google spokesperson Lara Levin, who also stressed Google’s commitment to always improving search to satisfy changing user needs. According to Levin, tools like the Perspectives filter let users locate the most useful data from a variety of sources and formats.
Google’s launch of the Perspectives tab demonstrates its dedication to enhancing search results and responding to customer input. Google hopes to provide consumers complete and relevant information right in the search results by including comments from well-known social media networks.
