The Google Discover feed is a constantly evolving beast that offers news, updates, and now social media posts right there on your homescreen.
We’ve seen a fairly questionable full-width redesign rollout in recent weeks, but while that didn’t affect functionality, a new change could alter how we use the left-most homescreen section or the Google app on your phone. Friend of the site Michael Brown, shared images of social media accounts and posts appearing in the Google Discover feed on several of his devices.
This could provide a major shift away from the news-led section we’ve seen since 2018. The closest we’ve come to distinct social channels is YouTube content within this content discovery section. By adding social media content to Discover, Google might shift to more real-time updates.
However, at this stage, it’s not immediately clear. It’s also not obvious how widespread this has rolled out or will roll out; it could be a simple A/B test limited to certain users. We have not seen any social posts on any of our own test devices at this stage. A carousel of recent posts is shown instead of a regular news story or post. You can scroll left to right, and more posts are shown in chronological order:
As you can see, posts and content from popular social media platforms Instagram, Twitter/X, and short-form YouTube content is being surfaced within the Google Discover feed. It’s also not known if other platforms like Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads, or TikTok are showcased here, but we would expect more social accounts and services to be visible depending on your own account preferences and search history.
Interestingly, video content from YouTube is shown in one of these examples as being related to a specific upcoming match or game. Pushing you to other platforms based on your interest or sporting teams seems like a great usage of this potential change. For specific accounts like Sundar Pichai’s Twitter profile, you’ll get a banner with the text “Latest posts from Sundar Pichai >.” Tapping opens up the application or mobile site.
As noted, it’s not clear if this is going to be a widespread change, but adding social media handles and content to the Discover feed might be a great move by Google as often the posts you see can be filled with spam and questionable clickbait. Let us know if you are seeing this on your device in the comments below
Follow Damien: Threads, Bluesky, Instagram
More on Google:
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
