A LOOK AT GOOGLE SOCIAL SEARCH

Overview
With Google Social Search you can carry out search based on content published by your friends and contacts.

Important dates
26 October 2009. Google Social Search goes live. But only as an opt-in Google Labs feature.
27 January 2010. Google Social Search is released in beta status, and becomes a standard feature on Google.com for signed-in users

Features (highlights)
My Social Circle: shows your extended network of online contacts and how you're connected.
My Social Content: shows your published content as it appears in other people’s social search results.
Google Images: you can view pictures from contacts in social circles

How does Google Social Search find content?
Mainly through your social Google profile. You can select what information you want to share.

Facebook
One of the most contentious issues with Google Social Search at the moment is that most Facebook content is outside the reach of Google Social Search. Google has expressed an interest in indexing and returning Facebook status updates in its search results. But it’s not up to Google as this is part of a bigger issue concerning Facebook and its approach to members’ privacy in general.

Any Good?
I found everything I wanted / expected, really, in its features. The Facebook issue has to be, surely, significant to the overall appeal of Google Social Search in general.

The main Google Social Search Demonstration video
(here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqWJxgp-_mU) did make me think about social search in general. The video brings up the scenario of visiting another country, and finding out what content your friends have published on that subject. Sure, this is an interesting use for Social Search, but it made me think that people are still going to depend a lot more on traditional, algorithmic search (i.e. Google takes them to a website such as Lonely Planet, or to web sites where travellers in general recount their experiences etc ..) than social search for a particular topic like this. In their next example, they discuss finding information about moving from blackberry to iPhone. I would have thought it would be much more effective – for people in general – to use traditional search to find good advice on such an issue. Lastly, they give an example of using Social Search to find out information about local restaurants. Of the three examples, this, I thought was the best one (surely, recommending restaurants – and other similar types of local businesses - is very usual amongst friends in life in general?).

How will Google Social Search fare in the world of business? The demonstration video didn’t refer to its use in a business environment at all. I can imagine people in businesses seeing Google Social Search as, potentially, another channel for marketing their business (compared to those who use social media for personal use and are more apt to keep their content private – between friends) as well as being a useful search tool in general. But it’s early days yet to say anything more concrete than that.