Google News Rolls Out Editor Picks, Human Edited Recommendations

One of Google strengths and touting points has been its reliance on algorithms for getting things done. But this is one of its biggest weaknesses as well and it nowhere more apparent than in Google News.

Which is why Google started experimenting with the idea of having human editors that would pick stories to be showcased.

Now it's rolling out the feature for everyone, in the US, and it's working with a number of publications for this.

"To help connect you to the best works of news publishers, Google News is introducing a new section in the right-hand column of the U.S. edition," Yogita Mehta, Software Engineer on the Google News Team, announced.

"The section is called 'Editors' Picks,' and it displays original content that publishers have selected as highlights from their publications," he explained.

Google has partnered with names such as The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, ProPublica, the Guardian and The Root, among others, for the feature.

Editors at those publications will be selecting the stories that will be highlighted in each newspaper's section on Google News.

"An array of news organizations, including local, national and niche publishers, are now using Editors’ Picks to display their best, most engaging content," Google says.

"Because Google News relies on algorithms, Editors' Picks will always be just that—picks provided by publishers themselves, and not by Google," it explained, highlighting the fact that it does not play favorites and that it does not hand pick stories itself, which could be seen as favoring a news source over another.

Google News provides a personalized news stream, it's the main touting point of the website. Google has been working on making personalized news stories more relevant to each user, but there are cases where you just want to see the popular events of the moment or just don't want any customization.

This is why the personalization options can be 'dialed down' or turned off altogether. The new Editor Picks section features a slider which enables users to control the amount of 'personalization' the feed gets, right down to none.