Google is testing Chrome’s feature to track websites based on RSS

Google will begin a limited test for 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 receive 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 is not consumer-friendly enough, writes a developer from Google. The experimental Follow function should respond to this.

The idea is that users can click on 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 from the various websites that the user follows are then displayed there. This is based on a Google News-like display, in the form of maps including images per update.

Google indicates that for showing the most recent content it is important that websites keep their RSS up to date. The company reports that it will provide more guidance to web publishers as the new feature grows from an experiment to wider availability in Chrome. It is therefore not yet certain that the Follow function based on RSS will become a permanent part of the browser. Google says it would like to receive feedback on this experiment.