Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- We’ve spotted hints that a comments feature is coming soon to Notes, which is an experimental feature for Google Search.
- Notes allows users to post their opinion about content present on the internet, while comments would extend the ability to reply to such notes to other users.
In November 2023, Google announced a new Google Search Labs feature called Notes. This opt-in feature lets users write brief comments about content online and decorate these notes with stickers, text, and background photos. Notes essentially builds a comments community around articles on the internet, letting users share their experiences and thoughts on what they just read. Soon, other users will be able to reply and comment on your Google Search Notes.
Android Authority contributor Assemble Debug managed to activate a new Comments section under Notes settings. This setting isn’t visible to end users currently. Since the Comments setting rests under the Notes header, it is fair to say that this could allow the original poster of the Note to toggle comments on and off for other users.
Of course, the obvious sign here says “Comments coming soon,” which can be taken at its face value.
If you think about it, the Notes feature on Google Search effectively builds a pseudonymous social network community of users who can share their thoughts on content on the internet. It effectively builds a rudimentary Reddit alternative without any of the ranking methods and algorithms (yet), but focused on content present on the internet at large rather than standalone discussions and user-posted content. We’re admittedly thinking too far ahead here about Google’s vision for this feature, and their vision could also be something entirely different.
When Google announced the Notes feature, it mentioned that it was exploring ways to provide site owners with insights into notes on their content. There’s a chance comments could also be part of this.
The comment feature on Notes in Google Search results is not currently rolling out to users. It could roll out to users in the future.
