What do you get when you cross Google+ with Google News?
For journalists, you could get a big bump in visibility if you play Google’s new game.
When reporters link their Google profile with their articles, Google News will show the writer’s name and how many Google+ users have that writer in their circles.
Moreover, for the lead article of each story cluster, Google News will also show that reporter’s profile picture and enables readers to add them to their Google+ circles right from the Google News homepage. Check it out:
Is this a popularity contest? Absolutely. Is it self-serving? Of course it is. But it’s an ingenious way to entice those journalists who aren’t showing Google+ love to use Google+.
This could seriously boost reporters’ exposure. What self-respecting journo doesn’t love that notion?
Count me in. Sign me up. I did, or at least I tried. Google is offering journos two ways to create the link between Google+ and Google News:
I picked option 1, which is new, because the second option involves applying code snippets. Who wants to do that when I can simply conduct a handful of mouse clicks, type in my email address and click Save. So that’s what I did.
Google will supposedly send a verification message to my Ziff Davis email address, whereupon I’ll be able to verify it to link my Google+ account with my work email to have my profile pop up in stories that surface on Google News. Very exciting!
This is the latest of many integrations between Google+ and the company’s Web services, including most recently Google Apps, YouTube, Search, Google Maps and Google Reader, among other apps.