Google Discover adds YouTube Shorts and social posts
The Google Discover feed, a personalized carousel found on the home screen of the Google app, is expanding beyond just articles and news. Google has announced two significant updates that could change how your content reaches new readers.
From now on, connected users can directly follow publishers or creators within Google Discover:
- Tapping on a media outlet or creator’s name opens a dedicated space showcasing all their content: articles, YouTube videos, and soon social posts.
- Users can choose to subscribe to see their content more frequently.
This follow feature provides a clear engagement signal: followed creators and publishers may benefit from consistent visibility in Discover.
Social Media Joins Google Discover
In the upcoming weeks, Google will begin to display posts from X, Instagram publications, and YouTube Shorts in the feed. Additional platforms will follow suit. The aim is to deliver a richer blend of content (articles, videos, social posts) that reflects the diversity of online creation.
If you publish both on the web and social media, your posts could reach Google Discover audiences without needing to go through each platform. The Follow button allows you to retain your readers and stabilize Discover traffic, which is often considered unpredictable by publishers.
Ultimately, this evolution aligns with a broader trend: enhancing user control over the content they see, similar to the “preferred sources” already available in Google News.
Availability
- The Follow button is already live for logged-in users.
- Integration of social posts will begin in the coming weeks.
Together, these innovations reaffirm Google’s commitment to user-driven personalization, with Discover serving as a key starting point to explore the web.
This update brings Google Discover closer to being a hybrid feed blending news and social media, blurring the lines between a search engine and a social platform.
