Dubai: Whether it’s a question of knowing when the sun sets, your favourite soup recipe, bank timings or even the closest place that makes your favourite mouth-watery sweet, Google has the answer.
The giant search engine is launching its “My Ramadan Companion.” The site, which can be visited through logging on www.google.com/Ramadan is appearing worldwide starting from Thursday, and it appears with five languages: Arabic, English, Turkish, Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia.
Based on information collected on users’ trends in the past few years, Google’s new digital hub offers its best technology platforms to its users, such as YouTube, Play, maps and search.
“The site differs from one user to another,” said Najeeb Jarrar, marketing Manager at Google. “Every user has different usages.”
However, “what most people search for during Ramadan is related to entertainment,” he told Gulf News.
“Food and TV episodes are among the top ... for users,” Jarrar concluded.
Information collected from Google products show that “entertainment industry has increased by 300 per cent during Ramadan. The threefold increase is across the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa),” said Zein Masri, product marketing manger at Google.
More specifically, users tend to see more entertainments products early in the day and later in the evening. Cooking is considerably picking in the middle of the day.
People watch TV series and movies much more during Ramadan, and interestingly enough they search more for food recipes.
“My Ramadan companions” has many content and YouTube partners, including several TV channels, such as Rotana, CBC and Al Hayah TV. Among the partners are Kharabeesh, which is an Arabic network of media, entertainment and animation satirical.
The appearance of the ‘companion” differs from one country to another. While it will show Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque and Burj Khalifa in UAE, in will show Mohamed Ali Mosque and the pyramids in Egypt, and Aya Sofia in Turkey.
As part of the ‘My Ramadan Companion’, Google is releasing, for the first time, locally designed Google Now data cards dedicated to the holy month. “Google Now” is a feature within the Google Search app that automatically organises information into simple mobile-friendly cards which provide relevant information, updates and assistance throughout the day. Ramadan Google Now cards work based on preferences of users who can control the information they receive by managing their settings. Users will receive relevant and customised information such as, popular YouTube shows in their local area, food recipes, and suggestions for the best route to avoid traffic on the way to Iftar.
