Google tipped to be building its own take to Snapchat’s Discover feature

Everyone seems to have some sort of Snapchat Stories-like feature in its services. And it looks like Google is looking to build the same thing but with a slight twist. The focus will be on having news publishers create Snapchat-like stories to appear on its search engine. It’ll look similar to Snapchat’s Discover section that shows a mix of photos, videos, and text. According to The Wall Street Journal, it’ll be supposedly called “Stamp” with the “St” meaning stories. Not much is known about these rumoured plans but The Verge speculates it might be seen beneath the search bar, where Android users are already being shown things like recommended websites and news stories.

What we know is that Google might be using its AMP webpage tech to make sure the stories load quickly, can come in whatever form, and are uncluttered. And more importantly, for the search giant, it’ll have ads that the company serves and controls. Google is reportedly in talks with CNN, The Washington Post, Time, and Vox Media to make this happen. It isn’t known how revenue will be split or if Google will let publishers share the custom stories or Stamps on their own sites or platforms like Facebook.

At first glance, it looks like Google is trying to reach out to the Snapchat demographic. But it is also seen as Google’s attempt to take on Facebook’s own Instant Articles feature, which is a competitor to AMP. With Facebook working hard to make sure users stay on its platform, it might keep them from using Google’s services. And now, Google wants to bring the fight to Facebook, and yes, Snapchat, by trying to get people to stay on its platform to look for news and entertainment content.