Google is testing a feature in Chrome to follow websites based on RSS
Google will begin a limited test of the Follow feature in Chrome in the coming weeks. This RSS-based feature is designed to help users keep an eye on the latest content from their favorite website.
Certain Android users in the United States with Chrome Canary will get an experimental Follow feature in the coming weeks, Google reports. According to many users, discovering and distributing information and updates on the web no longer functions properly and RSS would not be consumer-friendly enough, writes a developer from Google. The experimental Follow function must respond to this.
The idea is that users can press a follow button per website in the browser menu to indicate that they want to follow these sites. When opening a new tab, a Following category will appear at the top. Updates of the various websites that the user follows are then shown there. This is based on a Google News-like display, in the form of maps including images per update.
Google indicates that it is important for websites to keep their RSS up to date in order to display the most recent content. The company reports that it will provide more guidance to web publishers in this regard as the new feature evolves from an experiment to wider availability in Chrome. It is therefore not yet certain that the Follow function based on RSS will become a definitive part of the browser. Google says it would like to receive feedback on this experiment.