The Telegraph, Independent and Daily Express are among 55 publications who have joined Google's Fast Flip experiment, reported the Guardian. Fast Flip displays news stories from different partner publications via screenshots of the articles, which the user can quickly flick through, essentially allowing readers to browse news faster and more visually. It was launched in September with the involvement of 39 publications, most of them US-based.

The most ground-breaking aspect of Fast Flip is the revenue sharing scheme: 'partner' news outlets share the revenue earned from (supposedly) contextually relevant advertisements. It is the first time that Google has offered publications a cut of the ad revenue it makes in this way. Fast Flip also includes a personalisation aspect for those who sign in with a Google account, and is available on the iPhone and Android phones.

The Guardian quoted Will Lewis, Telegraph Media Group digital managing director and editor-in-chief, who said "we're pleased to be part of this experiment aimed at improving the reader's engagement with our journalism, by using technology to give readers a broader view of our content, delivering the important benefit of wider awareness of the 'news' - rather like flicking through a newspaper."

The Guardian's Mercedes Bunz suggested that "in terms of news it seems like Google may be going from sinner to saint by getting rid of its Murdoch-created image as a parasite feeding on newspapers." This conclusion may be a little optimistic, given the continuing conflict between publishers and the search engine over online copyright, but the fact that more papers are adopting Fast Flip suggests that some publishers may well appreciate Google's efforts. Another Google experiment called Living Stories, in conjunction with the New York Times and Washington Post, groups story updates together under one URL and offers potential for advertising revenue. Google News also already offers features that allow users to browse and search news in different ways, such as Spotlight and Timeline, but these do not offer any direct revenue possibilities.

Source: Guardian