So, Google+ is now showing
up on Google search results. While this is big news, it may not even be the
biggest development in social search, which is continuing to evolve into all
kinds of interesting directions.
My very first post here at Non-techie Talk was a review of two search apps
for my Palm Pilot. As I mentioned in that article, a capable search engine is
what supports storing information in the first place because, if you can
retrieve the information you need, there's no point in storing it - the value
of putting information in is being able to get it out. Search is a big deal.
That's what originally made Yahoo! a great internet
destination. As a portal, it helped give the limitless expanse of the internet
some shape, it helped us find information. But, it had pre-packaged what
information was presented, and searching for exactly what you want was a
secondary consideration.
That's the opportunity Google recognized. Most
people would go to a portal, scan what was on the menu, and then just order a
la cart by searching for exactly what they were looking for. So, Google
stripped out all the links to the usual suspects - you know, "news",
"weather", "sports", etc...and said "here's your
search field, enter what you want and we'll find it for you."
That "strip out process" works. After
all, isn't Twitter, for all intents and purposes, essentially just the
Facebook status update stripped out?
Anyway, fast forward to present day. It's no secret
that Facebook was looking to leverage its mine of personal information as a
personalized web experience, to become as it were not just a
web-within-the-web, but a web without Google. Nor
is it a secret that many are concerned that this "walled garden"
approach is not cool.
They built it...
Google's new development - including Google+
information in search results - appears to offer a social media "open
field" of access to anyone. As Google+ grows and users actually increase
their use of it for social interaction, we're going to see Google+ become an
increasingly present data source in search results.
...but, will they come?
In order for this to take flight, people have to
start using Google+ to interact socially. Until there is critical mass, it
won't threaten Facebook. However, in order for people to start using it, at
least Google had to do its part and build something to use. And Google+ does
have some nifty functionality. If Google+ grew underground back in the early
2000s, it might have become the standard. However, it's trying to occupy a
corner of a room dominated by the Facebook elephant.
The elephant is pretty big
Facebook still holds the advantage. It has the user
base, almost a billion people, and can already offer right now what Google is
trying to build - search results that integrates personal/social information
with wider web information. Why can't a Facebook user do a search, within
Facebook, that returns Facebook results as well as internet results using Bing?
That would provide results, in one window, from both the walled garden within
Facebook as well as the open field of the wider internet using Bing. Essentially
the same results, and no Google.
Other options
Have you ever heard of Greplin?
This is another twist on search. Sign up, set up all your various accounts
(Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Basecamp, LinkedIn...), and it will search all of
them. Just not the open web.
Where are we going with this?
Skynet,
right?
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