Social Media Rule?
*Social Media Rule!*And, faster than a speeding bullet, Google responds to the concerns
expressed by the Market Researchers as I represented them yesterday--and
even faster, Twitter joins in too!
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/Web 2.0 Summit: Google Unveils Social Search/
Users of Google's search engine will soon have the option to include
content created by friends in search results lists.
By Thomas Claburn
/InformationWeek/
October 21, 2009 07:53 PM
In a surprise announcement at the Web 2.0 Summit, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) VP
of search products and user experience Marissa Mayer revealed an
upcoming Google product called Social Search.
"We've been thinking about social networks for a long time," said Mayer,
without any hint that the meteoric rise of social networks might be a
source of concern at Google.
WOWD debuted its search oriented product at Web 2.0 saying that it
provides more "discovery" than "search," and demonstrating how it pulls
the crowd into search results. Web 2.0 Chair John Battelle tries to pin
down Evan Williams, CEO of Twitter, on the company's potential revenue
models. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts provides his view on the net
neutrality debate, saying that he welcomes the dialog.
WOWD debuted its search oriented product at Web 2.0 saying that it
provides more "discovery" than "search," and demonstrating how it pulls
the crowd into search results.
Social Search, said Mayer, recognizes a fundamental need for real-time
information and demonstrates Google's commitment to innovating in search.
Social Search will be launched in a few weeks as a Google Labs
experiment. As its name suggest, it integrates information created by
people in a searcher's Google network -- defined by one's list of Google
Contacts -- into Google search results.
Mayer demonstrated how a search for "New Zealand" produced a list of
search results that included relevant content created by friends
midway-down the search results page. Among the search results were links
to a Gmail message that referenced New Zealand and a FriendFeed entry,
each from a different friend.
In order for Social Search to work, users much have a Google Account, a
Google Profile, and friends listed as Google Contacts.
The existence of Google's Social Search service appears to validate
claims made earlier on Wednesday afternoon at the Web 2.0 Summit by
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. "There is a very fundamental shift going
on from the information Web to the social Web," she said.
Google clearly wants to be a part of that shift.
Mayer also confirmed an announcement made earlier in the afternoon that
Google had reached a deal with Twitter to include tweets in its search
index as a way to improve access to real-time information.
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Jim Dator
