Google Introduces Stories
Google Plus is now introducing a new Stories feature. Say you just went on vacation and are in a hurry to post your hundred or so beach photos with the fam. On Facebook, you’ll have to upload the photos yourself and arrange them in albums, writing captions with them if you want. The same happens on Flickr, the popular photo-sharing website, where you have to upload your own photos before they will appear, but now, Google Stories will do the work for you!
“No more sifting through photos for your best shots, racking your brain for the sights you saw, or letting your videos collect virtual dust. We’ll just gift you a story after you get home. This way you can relive your favorite moments, share them with others, and remember why you traveled in the first place,” says Anil Sabrarwal on Google’s Official Blog.
See his Cabo San Lucas story . This is how it works. Stories are created based on geo-tagging data. As a Slate article by Lily Hay Newman explains, Google does a lot of the heavy-lifting for you. Here’s the directions as seen in .
- Turn on Google Location History for Android or iOS
- If you store photos on Google Drive, show your Drive photos and videos in your photo library
- Use Auto Backup on your mobile device or desktop computer
- Make sure Auto Awesome is on
- Add your home and work addresses in Google Maps
- And finally, take a lot of pictures!
Through these steps and enabling auto backup on your smartphone, Stories’ algorithms will automatically look through your photos and figure out whether or not you’ve been traveling, Hay Newman says. Then, the service will determine if there is enough multimedia to merit a story and whether any of the photos include recognizable landmarks. How does Google know if you are traveling or not? Google creates a daily profile for you using data collection from your phone and can recognize when you’re at “home” or go out to the club or even on vacation, according to a Bayou Buzz article.
“If a vacationer takes enough pictures and provides enough data, Google will automatically upload those pictures and events to your feed just a few hours to a day after you return to your ho-hum life,” says Jim Bennett in an Inquisitr article.
So, Google has technology that will recognize when you leave a certain place and then upload the pictures for you. Of course, you can go back and take down the photos you don’t like or edit them. Even after Google creates your masterpiece, you can go back in and customize which photos show up and which location data displays from the places you visited. You can also add captions, says Hay Newman. And don’t worry. Your private vacation photos won’t be broadcast to the whole world. Stories are private unless you choose to share them, Google Support says.
Google’s Motivation
Image courtesy of Patrick Barry
But really why is Google trying to collect all this data on you? Does Google have ulterior motives?
“Google is in the business of data collection. The more information Google has on you, the more money they can make from you,” Bennett says.“Google has been trying to drum up ways to gain subscribers to their free Google Plus service, to take over the number one spot from Facebook. Now they are playing to their strengths, which is how well they know people. Google has much more knowledge on you and your behavior than you will ever know.”
Agrees Hay Newman, “It seems almost like a distraction from or a justification for all the data Google collects about its users. The more personal data Google has, the more ads it can sell and the more money it can make. If something like Stories will get people to automatically upload even more photos, then it’s a win for Google. The link to your Story is just a little thank-you from Google for providing your valuable data.”
Will Google Steal Away Facebook Users?
Google is hoping to establish a slideshow capability with Stories, which may entice former Facebook users that aren’t able to do that currently on Facebook. Stories also are easy to share. Simply provide your friends with links to your Stories. Here are some opinions from the experts on whether the Stories feature will make an impact.
“Google Plus’ Stories app is pretty cool, (but) it’s not enough to move people from Facebook. From what has been experienced, smartphone users do not mind setting up photo albums on Facebook on the fly or when they get home,” Bennett says. “So, while Google Plus’ Stories app takes all the legwork out, it does not enhance the usability of the service.”
Hay Newman says that Stories is a new “scrapbook-ish feature in search of a purpose,” but she says Stories might have a chance because,” Services that customize a product for each user by populating a template with their data/digital assets are really popular.” Google has tried this sort of thing before in 2013 with its Auto Awesome videos and slideshows, and Facebook also jumped on the trend with its “Look Back” videos a few months ago. The difference here is Google probably knows a lot about you, and the more data it has at its disposal, the better the customization will be.
What do you think? Do you think Google legitimately wants to help you publish your vacation photos or just wants information from you? Could you see yourself using Google Stories to your advantage, like putting together stories for your business? Leave us a comment below or chat with us on social media!