Google on Tuesday introduced a new mobile-only feature that makes people more discoverable on Google Search.
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Olumide Balogun, Head of Consumer Apps, Sub Saharan Africa, Google said that People Cards allow people to create their presence on Search in the form of a card.
He said in a statement that it was similar to a Google Search Knowledge Panel that includes all the details they want other people to have about them.
Balogun said that for many people, whether they are content creators, business professionals, or just wanting to stand out from the crowd — having an online presence is important.
According to him, for those without a formal website, or for people who share a name with many others, this is an easy way to create or distinguish their presence on Search.
He said that Google’s mission had always been to organise information and make it useful and accessible.
‘’We are now providing a new way – for people who want to be found – to organise information about themselves, right on Search, on their mobile phones.”
‘’Anyone with a Google account can create a People Card by simply searching for their name and tapping the “add me to Search” prompt.
‘’This will lead them through a simple process to add a photo, description, links to social profiles and other information that they would like others to know about them,’’ he said.
According to him, for the initial card creation, a unique phone number is required and one profile card is allowed per Google account and phone number.
He said that additionally, people could report abusive content and impersonation claims through a feedback link directly from the product.
Balogun said that in the last few years, Google had been working with people across the region to better understand how Africans see Search and how it could make it more relevant and work better for the people on the continent.
He said that Google built this feature for the millions of influencers, content creators, entrepreneurs, self-employed individuals, freelancers, or anyone else who wants to be discovered.
According to him, Google has recently introduced several locally relevant features within Search such as Job Search Experience which helps people find jobs through Search, and Health Symptom Search that helps users to explore health conditions related to symptoms.
Google has also introduced other features that make it easy to find information on everyday interests like Sports, Recipe, Movies, and Lyrics.
“A critical part of creating for Africa means building in line with the insights we are seeing from the region.
”We see that people in Africa want a search tool that reflects their real environment and also supports them to succeed as they go about their everyday hustle,” he said.
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This, according to him, is why the People Card creator is in full control of their information at all times, as they choose what they would like to make public and if they would like to remove it.