Computer and Library Learning (Archived)

Google Plus (Google+, G+) users (who have logged into their accounts) will now have the benefit or distraction (depending on one’s viewpoint) of integrating their personal interests with the power of Google Search. Amit Singhal offered an explanation today of “Search, plus Your World” (SPYW) on the Official Google Blog whereby Google Plus users now can add people and relationships to content for a more personal search experience. One can find “personal results” that include Google+ photographs and posts, “profiles in search” whereby one can focus on people of interest and become followers, and “people and pages” that emphasize individuals’ profiles and Google+ on the basis of topic of interest. Users have the option of choosing between personalized (including Google+ content) and impersonal searching and switching between the two search types using a toggle button.

Media reports have showcased a variety of reactions: from different ways to use the new Google feature; to criticism of Twitter’s negative reaction after having backed out of a similar arrangement with Google to link up with Bing instead; to the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) requesting that the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigate Google for the possibility of violating antitrust provisions and favouring its own content in search results since Facebook and Twitter results have appeared further down in Google Search results (Consider Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Google Plus account placing higher in relation to a Google Search on Facebook rather than his own Facebook account); and, to the inability of Google Search to access Facebook content. Watch the following video to hear Google executive chairperson Eric Schmidt state that Facebook and Twitter content would be treated the same as Google content provided that Facebook and Twitter provided Google with adequate permission to access their content.

Facebook also has a relationship with Microsoft’s Bing search engine based on the premise that Bing agreed to Facebook’s conditions for protecting user privacy. Google denied that it wanted to make Facebook’s private information available publicly. Some have called for switching to Bing from Google, including Mat Honan from Gizmodo who described Google Search as the “highest quality web search product” that he had ever used for years. Unfortunately, Mr. Honan is concerned about the necessity of “opting-out” from Google’s social searching.

Facebook, Google Plus and Twitter users are invited to share their thoughts on these developments.

(See Also: Focus on the User versus Google Search, Plus Your World )