As if Google wasn’t pushing the boundaries enough in its search engine, the Tech Behemoth has decided to add live comments to its searches. This seems like a totally random feature and quite a niche functionality, but it can be quite fun if executed correctly.
Google will test out the feature on live matches currently. If the results prove successful, the company will make it live for other searches as well.
This seems like a last ditch effort to engage in social networking since Google+ has bitten the dust. This discovery was made by Google related news site 9to5Google. The site had gathered evidence about in-testing support for the comments on search results.
It won’t be a simple feed; Google intends to add many exciting features to the live commentary section. It will highlight comments that will be made by pro commentators (yes there will be pro commentary as well).
These highlighted comments will make it easier to differentiate the pro comments from normal users’ comments. It is reported that there will be filters as well, to bring up top comments first. No live events are complete without a large dose of spam, abuse and hate speech.
And no matter how hard you will find to sympathize with such things, this is just the harsh reality of being on the internet. Such comments and incidents have become extremely frequent and can be hard to cut down on, without moderators.
So Google decided to add moderators to prevent these bitter comments. It remains to be seen if the moderators will be real human beings or Artificial Intelligence. If we take Twitch’s example, the platform has actual people working as moderators for the live comments and also AI to filter out abuse and spam links, etc.
Maybe Google will follow a similar path to Twitch and add a mix of both human and AI moderators. Google did not mention any plans for this interesting idea. Funny enough the company didn’t even admit if it will make this feature live or not.
So as far as things stand currently, these are just rumors. It seems as if Google has a big plan behind this idea like all good companies have. Google wants to keep visitors engaged to keep them on their site longer.
Maybe it will try to incorporate some sort of paid partnership deals with sports teams or sports brands, or even show ads during the live matches. One thing is for sure, literally millions of users will be curious to check this feature when and if it goes live.
It will be interesting to see how the company will manage millions of users that visit their site, especially since they visit from all over the globe and speak different languages. Will they hire moderators who speak different languages or slow down the chat.
Maybe there will be some delay in the chat so it won’t be real-time, technically speaking. Well whatever the case may be, the idea is pretty interesting. We will keep our eyes peeled.
Fazeel Ashraf
Amnah Fawad
