Google has reportedly confirmed that the Google Discover feed has recently increased how often it shows social media posts in the feed. We covered this in January, and while we know Google does show social media in the Discover feed, it seems Google is more likely to show these social media posts more often now.
John Mueller from Google, according to Braian Iván Quiña, said at the Google Search Essentials for News event in Argentina that Google has increased social media content in the Discover feed recently. Braian quoted John as saying, "Recently, we've started showing more social media posts in Discover in general, and that's not just from X, but also from Instagram, TikTok, and several other sources."
He posted this on LinkedIn.
He went on to quote the rest, that talks about controlling this content and why Google shows this content. John reportedly said:
Recently, we've started showing more social media posts in Discover in general, and that's not just from X, but also from Instagram, TikTok, and several other sources.We’re doing this because we found that users enjoy content written by humans, or essentially shorter versions of content.
It’s not that we’re saying this type of content is the future and everything will turn into short-form content; rather, it’s something we are experimenting with.
I expect the amount of social media content we show in Discover to vary over time. So, if you see too many X posts, don't hesitate to let us know and we can pass that feedback along. If you feel the wrong type of social media posts are being shown, that’s also useful feedback for the teams, especially since they are actively working on it right now.
Currently, users also have the ability to block certain accounts in Discover, similar to how they can block specific sites. I expect that will also be a signal our teams use to try and find better paths. If in your part of the world, or in the area you’re interested in, this seems excessive or not useful for people, definitely let us know.
I am not sure what is meant by "recently," as in maybe last January or maybe September or maybe even more recently?
I do think it is from the September story because the screenshot he used in his presentation was from that Google blog post:
Forum discussion at LinkedIn.
