Google Rolls Out Social Search

[engine]

Google Social Search Rolls Out [googlesocialweb.blogspot.com]

Today, we’re bringing Social Search to more users around the globe.

Just like on google.com, social search results in other languages and on other domains are mixed throughout the Google results page based on their relevance.

Social Search can help you find pages your friends have created, and it can also help you find links your contacts have shared on Twitter and other sites. If someone you’re connected to has publicly shared a link, we may show that link in your results with a clear annotation. So, if you’re looking for information about modern cooking and your colleague Adam shared a link about Modernist Cuisine, you’ll see an annotation and picture of Adam under the result. That way when you see Adam in the office, you’ll know he might be a good person to ask about his favorite modern cooking techniques.

So how does this all work? Social search results are only visible to you and only appear when you choose to log in to your Google Account. If you’re signed in, Google makes a best guess about whose public content you may want to see in your results, including people from your Google chat buddy list, your Google Contacts, the people you're following in Google Reader and Buzz, and the networks you’ve linked from your Google profile or Google Account. For public networks like Twitter, Google finds your friends and sees who they’re publicly connected to as well. You can see a complete list of the people included in your social search results in your personal Google Dashboard (this display is private).

[Panthro]

lol

[engine]

It's taking personalized search to new levels.

Soon, there will be no universal search.

[indyank]

So, if you’re looking for information about modern cooking and your colleague Adam shared a link about Modernist Cuisine, you’ll see an annotation and picture of Adam under the result. That way when you see Adam in the office, you’ll know he might be a good person to ask about his favorite modern cooking techniques.

I couldn't stop laughing at this. I know of a lot people who would actually think why the **** is google showing me this guy for what I am looking for? I searched on google because I did't want to ask this #*$!ty guy about it...

[falsepositive]

I want search to be simple. So I've been going to Bing now as my default. Can't we just stick to simple, relevant results? That's just not Google's style anymore.

[Samizdata]

Seems rather similar to the Bing/FaceBook approach launched the other day.

Soon, there will be no universal search

It seems that the answer to all search queries will soon be "ask your friends".

...

[netmeg]

It's like being stalked by tweets. First I see them on twitter. Then I see them on Facebook. Then I see them in Google SERPs.

THEY'RE IN THE HOUSE!

[engine]

It seems that the answer to all search queries will soon be "ask your friends".

Agreed, and which makes the search engines redundant.

Bring back the simple search box and serps.

[mhansen]

Hmmm ... I wonder if they are going to be sure to filter out adult stuff? LOL

I can see one of my sons searching for some kind of sexy picture (I know, teen boys would never search for THAT) and it saying "You Dad Likes...." (You get the idea)

Or maybe my wife looking for some new undergarment deals, and it saying "Your Husband Likes..." (again, you see where I'm going)

I know, I know... if I don't want people to know, maybe I shouldn't be doing it, right? Where was that opt-out of my stuff being shared again? Ah... Bing!

Seems like a good time for MSFT to punch out a commercial about social search... and show some wife following her mate into a sex shop. (For added effect, she can use an Android phone to track him, and Google Street view to learn where the shop is)

[HuskyPup]

Do these search people think that all I want to know is what others are doing/buying/anything?

I like surprises, not inevitabilities that have already been "telegraphed" to me!

Those who want to do it, fine, just stop incessantly trying to ram this stuff down my throat...now which joke should I have inserted there:-)

[shallow]

I can see one of my sons searching for some kind of sexy picture (I know, teen boys would never search for THAT) and it saying "You Dad Likes...." (You get the idea)

Or maybe my wife looking for some new undergarment deals, and it saying "Your Husband Likes..." (again, you see where I'm going)

LOL! After Panda, I need a good laugh.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

My first thought is that there is NO WAY Google can stop this from being gamed.

...your Google chat buddy list, your Google Contacts, the people you're following in Google Reader and Buzz, and the networks you’ve linked from your Google profile or Google Account. For public networks like Twitter, Google finds your friends and sees who they’re publicly connected to as well

Do it...
- bug everyone you can and get them to join your "buddy list".
- devise ways of getting into people's Google contact list.
- devise ways of getting followed in Google reader and Buzz.
- get people to link to you from their Google profile and/or Google account.
- hook up your site to twitter, friendfeed and facebook (not seeing other networks right now).
- rinse and repeat.

Do it not and your serp links will not look as complete as they could. The above just became SEO... :/

GREAT CONTENT <-- should have ALWAYS been enough, now you need social.

[paulguy]

I'm actually glad about this, and have been waiting for the day when it would happen.
I've always hated generic info from content farms that keeps popping up at the top of my searches. I notice that my friends have never "liked" generic content generated mostly for SEO. They tend to share real, useful content that is developed by professionals. I'm talking news from major news orgs, videos that come from networks and individuals with a lot of talent.
I think people's friends lists are far less gameable than SEO algos. I'm pretty selective about who I "friend." Essentially, they're all people I know. Sure, people who are less selective will have more diluted, possibly worse results, but overall I think the votes created by social, especially Facebook shares, are the closest we'll ever get to a real human-powered search engine.
Really, I'd say it's been a while since I've found anything new and interesting through search. Most of my discoveries on the web come from established sources that I check every day (like this site), or from what my friends share on social networks.
Bing and Google are moving in the direction of providing much more relevant search results. As a webmaster, I think good quality content, the kind where people are looking for "Like" and "Tweet" buttons because they can't wait to tell their friends about it, is the future.

[J_RaD]

hahahahha

next goog is going to start putting homepage backgrounds back up.

[koan]

I was wondering why the chinese government was pushing hard these days to be in my contact list.

[explorador]

I couldn't stop laughing at this. I know of a lot people who would actually think why the **** is google showing me this guy for what I am looking for? I searched on google because I did't want to ask this #*$!ty guy about it...

That's exactly what I think about all these super searches. I want SEs to stop telling me what I should search for, and stop showing me stuff and people I did not search for.

[Shatner]

So if they rolled this out... why don't I see any diff at all in Google search results? Where is it? What am I missing?

[jmccormac]

Welcome to Netscape 2.0. :)

Regards...jmcc

[crobb305]

Good grief. I'm kind of tired of all the social crap. If I wanted to socialize, I'd go to a bar. I don't need someone's photo and their opinions popping up on all my searches. Might just be my mood today.

[edited by: crobb305 at 11:41 pm (utc) on May 19, 2011]

[moTi]

i want to explore the world's information independently. better have no friends that the big networks can detect. it will only restrict you from gathering the richness of information out there. you will get one-sided and biased. from now on, you'll have to reveal yourself as alone to get the most open-minded info out of the net.

[HuskyPup]

@paulguy

Are you the fallguy for Goofle?

As John McEnroe said "You cannot be serious"

[Brett_Tabke]

It's like being stalked by tweets. First I see them on twitter. Then I see them on Facebook. Then I see them in Google SERPs.

THEY'RE IN THE HOUSE!

That is funny Netmeg. The Tweeter is in the house. haha Google, the Tweet Stalker.

[koan]

Are you the fallguy for Goofle?

That's unfair, he presents really good points. Any technology that helps real quality web sites with some social networking boost over generic MFA sites or content farms is a really good thing, but it depends how far they push the social angle or if its too easily gamed. I'm all for bringing the ole "word of mouth" to the 21st century. I don't call my friends for every little things, but if I see a friend who's really into alternative health "liking" the latest herbal vitamin complex or whatever, it's a great vote of confidence if I'm looking for one, especially since I know, as a friend, he's not a marketing shill, a pushy affiliate or a web spammer. I don't even use Facebook but guys, it's inevitable.

[tedster]

I think paulguy represents a widespread point-of-view. It's not my point-of-view, but it's certainly legitimate. Google and Bing are both betting the farm that the general public cares about social search - and cares a lot.

We can't be running a "Google Haters" club here and just knee-jerk dump on everything they do. For one, that would get boring pretty fast. It also wouldn't be very useful and the forum would get so far out of touch with the rest of the world that we wouldn't have a clue any more.

So all genuine viewpoints are welcome here - make it so!

[Broadway]

So, nothing to do at the webmaster's end other than encourage sharing?

[walkman]

I've always hated generic info from content farms that keeps popping up at the top of my searches. I notice that my friends have never "liked" generic content generated mostly for SEO. They tend to share real, useful content that is developed by professionals. I'm talking news from major news orgs, videos that come from networks and individuals with a lot of talent.

Why do you need Google for that then, isn't Twitter and FB enough? Doesn't everyone have a list of sites that post stories of their liking? Or do you want to be 100% in the bubble of what your friends like? Maybe your cable company should also interrupt your favorite show to tell you that Adam is watching a cooking show or whatever Googlers like to talk about at work. Other than pollute the interface and act as a overbearing nanny this is dumb, IMO.

Every content farm asks /requires /incentivises (?) the promotion of their junk by writers. And then writers have their own hubs where they meet and cross promote each other junk in Twitter, FB, blogs etc. It's very hard for normal sites to get even one Tweet and these content farms have dozens at times so there goes the social buzz.

Google has solved nothing, they just showed how they are no longer a leader in innovation*, but a "me too." Like when Bing added twitter feeds, or Yahoo the instant search, or Bing the now copied-by-Google interface, the background image etc. Bing released this a few days ago, but with FB integration.

_{*Whatever Panda did to SERPS searchers aren't feeling it, if ComScore is correct google has lost over 3% in the first 2 months of Panda. ComScore could be wrong, users may take a while to realize it or maybe it stopped a larger bleeding of course but apparently it isn't a WOW factor among average users.}

[tedster]

I see it 180 degrees differently. Twitter and Facebook Search are anaemic and seriously limited. I can see how many people would appreciate social results added to the regular SERPs. Bing sees it the same way, apparently.

Since I never intentionally do a search while logged in, I guess I'll miss all the fun. Except when I'm logged into a client account and forget that I am. That could get weird. I'll need to make sure that everyone just shares their Google Account with me, rather than giving me their log in, the way long time clients did before Google enabled sharing.

[albo]

URLs are no longer needed! (N.b. Chrome 13 is making the address bar optional...) Eric Schidt [sic] said, "I actually think most people don't want Google to answer their questions. They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next."

[walkman]

Maybe, I hate this dumbing down. I'd rather search a few times or add another word than get results simply becuase my 'buddies' shared it a year ago. I think almost by definition they cannot be the most relevant page for the search, unless you have 100000 friends and they shared hundreds of similar pages for google to match you with the best.

>> URLs are no longer needed! (N.b. Chrome 13 is making the address bar optional...)

This is why I gave up trying Chrome. Had problems searching from the url bar and couldn't activate the status bar. I like to see the URL before I go.

[paulguy]

Why do you need Google for that then, isn't Twitter and FB enough?

I imagine this is why search engines are integrating Twitter and FB into search.

Anyway, I don't think anyone is saying that social should be the only basis for search, but a component of it. If real people that you know have actually vetted something and given it their vote of trust, I think that should certainly count for something in search.

When I'm trying to decide on a new book to read (I don't watch TV) I certainly take into consideration what some of my friends have said about their latest reads. In fact, I would guess that most people don't just wander into a bookstore or library, ask where the fiction section is, and then grab the first book. Their starting point is probably where their real-life social network has pointed, them, then they might branch out if something else piques their interest. No search led me to Hemmingway or Márquez or DFW. It was several friends saying "You've got to check this out...'

By the same token, all of my favorite websites, including this one, were referred to me. In the early days it was someone saying "check this out," then an emailed link, and now a share on FB or Twitter.

[edited by: paulguy at 4:37 am (utc) on May 20, 2011]