Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Google News Gets Personal With 'News for You'

by Amar Toor on June 30, 2010 at 04:15 PM

Google News Goes Personal
Google News got a major overhaul last night, and, as you'd expect, the site's major changes revolve around user autonomy. The news aggregation site now lets you choose to view stories in headline or section view, and, with the help of a drop-down menu, more easily shares stories on Facebook, Twitter, Buzz or Reader. The revamped version of Google News will also provide more local news and events, which will be displayed in a unique section of the page.

But the real centerpiece of Google's renovation is a feature called 'News for you,' which Google describes as "a stream of headlines automatically tailored to your interests." The site will now automatically remember your preferences each time you log in, and will offer you a customized feed, giving priority to your preferred media outlets. In the event that Google's notions are off base, you can fine tune them by going to the 'Edit personalization' box, where you can edit your news stream according to specific topics. If the idea of personalized news feeds doesn't sit well with you, you can always opt out of the service by selecting the 'Reset personalization' option.

Google's new Google News has already rolled out in the U.S. and will reach international and non-English media markets within the next few months. We're not entirely sold on Google's personalized approach to news delivery. After all, one of the best things about Google News was that it gave us stories and insight from sources we normally wouldn't read, including everything from Al-Jazeera to FOX. And there's certainly something to be said for being exposed to topics and stories that interest other parts of the world, even if events like the tumult in Kyrgyzstan aren't at the top of our own RSS feeds. Ultimately, however, the real beauty of Google's makeover is that we don't have to participate if we don't want to. [From: Google]

Tags: buzz, facebook, google, GoogleBuzz, GoogleNews, googlereader, local, news, newsforyou, personalization, personalized, top, twitter, web

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular