Google Developing Technology To Compete With Snapchat Media Content

Google is developing technology that will allow publishers to create visually oriented media content much like Snapchat’s Discover.

The Wall Street Journal reported that sources familiar with the situation revealed Google is in discussions with several publishers, including Vox Media, CNN, Mic, the Washington Post and Time Inc., about participating in the project, which is being called “Stamp.”

One source said the project could be announced as early as next week.

Google is building the service around its AMP mobile webpages, which are designed to load faster than regular webpages. The “St” in Stamp stands for “stories,” and participating publishers would run stories that could be several swipeable slides encompassing text, photos and video, just as on Snap Inc.’s Snapchat.

“Ever since the beginning of AMP we’ve constantly collaborated with publishers and are working on many new features,” said a Google spokeswoman.

Snapchat has Discover, Facebook has its Instant Articles platform and Apple has the Apple News app, but one of the main attractions of Google‘s product is that it would be tied into the company’s search product. The Stamp versions of stories could be surfaced in Google search results or within other Google products, giving publishers a built-in audience.

In addition, the stories could be placed on publishers’ own sites, which is different from Snapchat, where stories are hosted by the site itself and are only available via the app.