A new, smarter Google News?

Google News users can expect further news delivery enhancements before the end of the year. According to a report in a Hollywood-centric blog called The Wrap, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the company plans to roll out in about six months a personalized service to deliver news to users. Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for further details. Really, the speed at which Google News stories become available is dependent upon the frequency that Google reindexes news source sites, a period that varies based on the site’s typical publishing frequency. However, Google’s opening of a Twitter channel should be seen as a continuation of the company’s interest in rapid and broad information delivery. If Google doesn’t acquire Twitter, it almost certainly will bring Twitter-like instant communication capabilities to more of its services. – from InformationWeek

Google does have plans for a solution. In about six months, the company will roll out a system that will bring high-quality news content to users without them actively looking for it. Under this latest iteration of advanced search, users will be automatically served the kind of news that interests them just by calling up Google’s page. The latest algorithms apply ever more sophisticated filtering – based on search words, user choices, purchases, a whole host of cues – to determine what the reader is looking for without knowing they’re looking for it. And on this basis, Google believes it will be able to sell premium ads against premium content. The first two news organizations to get this treatment, Schmidt said, will be the New York Times and the Washington Post. – from The Wrap

Beyond that, what shape would this sort of news platform would take, and what influence might it have on the media landscape? One of the most salient points Waxman makes — that she says Schmidt confirmed — is that Google would use this new, highly-targeted news platform to “sell premium ads against premium content,” and that the newspapers included in the system would not get a cut of the revenue. That being said, the system would also drive more traffic to newspapers’ online properties and allow them to hike their ad rates as well. – from VentureBeat