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So far, we’ve seen so many companies emulate the Stories feature that Snapchat unveiled about a decade ago. The next company to do this is actually a bit surprising. Google Search is testing out a Stories feature called Notes.
This seems like such an odd concept, as you use Google search results to find information and not to look for social posts. However, this is more of a way to quickly gather insight on a page before you pull up a result.
This upcoming Google Search feature will remind you of Stories
At this point, we don’t know too much about this functionality. The news comes from two sources, AssembleDebug and 9To5Google. The latter were able to post a video of the function in action. However, at this point, it’s still in testing.
Judging from the place-saver text, it looks like this function is mostly about leaving feedback on web pages. When you go to create a Note, you’ll see the text “What did you think of this link? Keep it friendly and helpful”. So, you’ll be able to post your thoughts on the page.
While you’d be able to do this in text form, making it a Story-like post is a lot more engaging. You’re able to add different styles of text, animated stickers, backgrounds, and images. So, it’s indistinguishable from the sort of Story you’d see on Snapchat or Instagram. You’re also able to “like” another person’s Note.
When you make a post, your profile picture and name will be visible to other people. This could mean that you’ll need to be signed in to Google to leave a Note. Your Google account could act as your profile.
This is an interesting idea, but there are sites that you won’t be able to leave notes on. This goes for sites showing medical information, violence, or pornographic material. We’re pretty sure we know all of the Notes that people would leave on Porn Hub.
Right now, Google is preparing to test this feature, so it won’t hit the public for a while. This is a Google Labs experiment, so you may be able to access it eventually if you join the program.