A number of recent Google developments support high-quality online content. From the company's recent algorithm update that penalizes sites for unoriginal content to its new content aggregator, One Pass, the search giant is promoting sites that sites that invest in unique, user-relevant articles.
Now, Google has awarded the International Press Institute a $2.7 million grant toward the development of the online news industry. The money will be used to sponsor a contest that funds the execution of ideas to improve and shape the future of digital news.
“Journalism is changing fast. And as news businesses experiment with new ways of creating and delivering journalism in the digital age, Google is keen to play its part on the technology side,” says Peter Barron, director of external relations for Google Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Grants will go to both profit and nonprofit organizations that develop digital journalism tools to help distribute content to the public and offer training in digital reporting.
Google's effort to fund internet news content should be taken as a cue by marketers that online news is in high demand. Indeed, Brafton has reported that the web now rivals television as America's preferred news source.
Brands that offer custom news content about developments in their industries will find that headlines attract web searchers, as well as clicks from social news. A Chitika study indicates that news drives the majority of traffic to leading social sites, and Pew Research Center for the People & the Press says 12 percent of Americans turn to their inboxes for headlines.
