The problem: You’ve heard that Google Now is testing a local “news card” and want to prepare your business for it.
Why this matters: Local news/updates – opportunity for your business to be in it.
The solution: Teach yourself how hyper-focused local updates/media/news are gathered and bring those to once central location – your Feedly reader.
Quartz recently reported that “has hatched a plan to boost the visibility of its existing local news product, and in the process is testing a whole new way to get people to pay attention to the news that is geographically most relevant to them.” You can read all the details over at
- Quartz: Google is testing a local news product for Google Now
- SearchEngineLand: Google Reportedly Testing Local News Card For Google Now
- TechCrunch: Google Testing Local News In Google Now, As Well As The Limits Of Feature Bloat On The Android Assistant
Without official confirmation of the precise details, it’s pretty difficult to pinpoint exactly how your business can take advantage of it. However, one smart way to *prepare* is to get yourself familiar with how local news is distributed within your neighbor hood and community.
The best way to do this is to gather up the local news reporting RSS feeds within your area and group them within your Feedly news reader.
Here’s how.
Step 1.) Open your Feedly.
You’ll be at cloud.feedly.com/ .
Step 2.) In a separate browser, visit
and browse to your state.
Visit the related newspapers, find their RSS (Syndication) feeds, and add them to your Feedly reader.
Need help with Feedly? Check out:
Make sure to categorize these feeds as “STATE newspapers”, ie, “NJ Newspapers” or “TX Newspapers” etc.
Step 3.) Next search for “State/Town News”
Search for
or
Add these feeds as well
When you are done, you’ll have at your fingertips the latest of ALL your local news…in one single location.
You can also search for local news channels:
Local radio stations:
and add those as well.
As the days go by, you’ll get a feel for how local news is being distributed…which will give you an added edge for the hyper-focused Local News card gets operational.
Given this is a Google Platform as well, I’d be wiling to bet that results from Google Local will be included too.
Thus, if you want to be in the driver’s seat once the Google News card is activated for Google Glass…doing the above is very wise indeed.
And! Looking for invitations to try out Google Glass?
Lookie here:
- Mashable: Google Now Rolling Out Invitations for Google Glass
- eWeek: Google Offers Some Glass Users a Chance to Invite a Pal
Google Glass (and local hyperfocused news!) is coming….so why not take advantage of the resources online *now* and start preparing today?
Enjoy!
Grow strong,
Barbara Ling
Get Started Here
You’ll love what you learn… Promise!