Google News allows interested parties to add comments to news stories

Google News has a feature that allows a person, company or organization mentioned in a news story to add their comments and viewpoint to the news. I’d be willing to put money on the table that not many people know that.

“Google News has always tried to present as many sources as possible to give our users a wide spectrum of views on the news," says Josh Cohen, Google News’ Product Manager. "Comments is an experimental feature that we believe will continue this goal by letting readers see exactly what people in a story think about current news. We think this will help us increase the number of diverse and meaningful points of view on the news.”

Only persons or organizations who are specifically mentioned in the story can comment. Google News then contacts the person who submitted the comment, or others in their organization, to verify their identity.

Each story is expected to have only a handful of highly relevant comments that give readers a more in-depth look at topics in the news. Cohen adds: “their insight will both help readers understand the news, and cover views that may not be well-published or well-understood within the current coverage”.

The December issue of the PRoactive Report covers Onine News from soup to nuts – and the commenting function in Google News will be one section of that report.

• How it works
• What you can and can’t do
• How to send a comment
• The PR value of this service
• Examples
• Podcast interviews with experts

In order to make a comment you have to be aware that there is information in Google News about you. Monitoring the news online is essential to good PR today. 

Hat tip:  Businesswired blog

See Also

• Monitoring Online News
  To find out more about how to do this effectively read the November issue of the PRoactive Report on monitoring the online conversation.