Google Search’s new Discussions feature feels like its Reddit moment
There's a new way to argue about your favorite team — right inside Google Search.
- Google is testing a new “Discussions” tab within mobile search results, starting with sports queries.
- The feature allows users to comment, reply, and vote on comments, resembling platforms like Reddit.
- It’s unclear what Google’s long-term goals are for this new social and community experiment.
It’d be fair to say that Google Search has been having a bit of a mid-life crisis lately. Competition is creeping up from all quarters, especially from AI tools like ChatGPT, while regulators question whether Google has a dominant position. All of this is in the backdrop of waning user confidence in the quality of search results. Google has been experimenting with features like AI Overviews to maintain Google Search’s utility in our lives, and now, the company is trying to build a discussion forum within Search itself.
X user Nicholas McDonough spotted that Google has quietly launched Google Discussions in beta on mobile. This surfaces when users in the US search for a ‘team vs team’ query. Google presents the usual sports-related rich content, like the score and upcoming games, followed by the Discussions tab, where users can drop in comments. X user Glenn Gabe shared these screenshots for the feature:
