Just imagine this. You ask your smartphone, “How old is Shah Rukh Khan?” and lo behold, Mr. Khan himself answers your question in a video! Sounds outlandish and futuristic?
It is not! This is set to be a reality in the not-so-distant future.
Google has a big surprise in store for all of us. They are working with celebrities on customized videos which have them answering the most asked questions about them. These videos will be linked with Google’s search results whenever a relevant question is asked.
The latest version of the Google’s Search will come with special celebrity trivia. The feature has already been rolled out officially in the US where it is in beta testing stage. But there are some reports coming in of the feature working in India on some mobile devices. A full roll out in India is scheduled to take place in a month or two.
How Does It Work?
Go to Google search on your phone and just type something like “How many languages does Priyanka Chopra speak?” You will get to see the lady herself answer the question in a pre-recorded video.
For any questions you ask, unless it’s something related to an IMDB listing, you won’t get a straight answer. There are high chances that you may have to go through several online articles to find your answer to your query.
So Google has come up with an interactive solution. It will now bring you answers in form of personalized videos for the most searched-for celebrity questions, straight from the mouths of your favourite stars.
The celebrities for these videos of answering questions about themselves, were chosen on the basis of their popularity in the Google searches. Every celebrity was allowed to pick the questions they wanted to answer from the list of regularly asked questions on Google or trending search queries.
These videos have been recorded in a selfie-style where each one has answered the questions, usually in 30 seconds or less. When this feature is rolled out, they will appear as the top result in relevant searches.
Google Inspired By The Wired Series
The Wired Series was a streak of popular video series where several popular celebrities answered the most searched questions about them on the internet.
It’s a similar takeaway by Google for their new video response results and these will only show up in the search results. They will not lead to any YouTube videos or any external links. These videos are limited to mobile search results only and will not show up on searches done on a desktop browser.
Google has piloted the feature in the mobile search results from Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra and Hollywood actors like Will Ferrell, Tracee Ellis Ross, Gina Rodriguez, Kenan Thompson, Allison Williams, Nick Jonas, Mark Wahlberg, James Franco, Seth MacFarlane, Jonathan Yeo and Dominique Ansel.
Let’s wait and watch how Indian netizens respond to this new Google search feature.