Google News offers badges to avid readers

If Boy and Girl Scouts can earn badges to show their skills, why can’t avid news readers be able to show with pride just how voraciously they consume news? On Friday (Manila time), search giant Google announced it has started offering just such badges on the United States site of its “Google News" service. “Starting today, in the U.S. edition of Google News, you can see how voracious a news reader you are by earning Google News badges as you read articles about your favorite topics. The more you read, the higher level badge you’ll receive, starting with Bronze, then moving up the ladder to Silver, Gold, Platinum and finally, Ultimate," Google News engineer Natasha Mohanty said in a blog post. “We hope you’ll badge up on Google News to keep track of what you’re reading, read more of what you love and share your passions with your friends," she added. Images posted on the blog indicated there are badges for “Harry Potter," stock market, Dominican Republic, US elections, and even professional sports teams. Mohanty said more than 500 badges are available, “so no matter what kind of news you’re into, there’s a badge out there for you." She also noted that, on Google News, the average reader of political news has read 20 articles about politics in the last six months. Badges are private by default, but a user can opt to share his or her badges with friends. “Tell them about your news interests, display your expertise, start a conversation or just plain brag about how well-read you are. You can also add custom sections by hovering on a badge and clicking ‘add section’ to read more about your favorite topics. To get started with badges, visit Google News from a signed-in account with web history enabled and then visit this page on our Help Center for instructions," Mohanty said. Mohanty also hinted at more improvements in the coming months, saying Friday’s release is just the “first step." “Once we see how badges are used and shared, we look forward to taking this feature to the next level," she said. Meanwhile, Mohanty said Google News has separated its Science/Technology section into two distinct sections, after receiving feedback from readers. She said Google has also combined some personalization settings from the “News for you" and News Settings menu into one handy sidebar at the top right corner of the home page, “so you can easily tell us what you want to read on your Google News." — TJD, GMA News