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Google Merges Google+ Into Search

Posted by samzenpus on from the relating-to-related-links dept.

SharkLaser writes "Google is today launching an update to their search engine. This update is intended to bring you personalized search results based on your Google+ friends, sharing, pictures and likes. They're calling it 'Search plus Your World,' and the update is going to automatically personalize all search results to a greater degree than before. These personalized matches will appear along your normal search results. For example, if you are searching for images of babies, Google will now personalize your search results and give high preference to baby photos from your Google+ circles. TechCrunch is speculating that over time they will also start adding search results from all the other Google services, including Google Docs, Gmail, Contacts, Music, Voice, wallet and so on. Today's launch also uses Google+ data for another purpose: helping you search for information about people on Google+. For example, if you are searching Google for 'music,' Google will now display relevant people and pages from Google+, like Britney Spears, Alicia Keys and Snoop Dogg." Update: 01/10 18:40 GMT by S : Changed the summary to reflect that the idea of adding search results from other services was speculation from TechCrunch, and not something Google said.

10 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. Please no by recoiledsnake · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Make it opt-in instead of opt-out. Please don't junk up my search results.

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    This space for rent.
    1. Re:Please no by masternerdguy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Slowly they will make those results more and more dependent on Google+. Resistance is futile.

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      To offset political mods, replace Flamebait with Insightful.
    2. Re:Please no by mystikkman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How is this different from MS integrating IE into Windows to beat Netscape? Google has a monopoly on search and is harming other industries such as social networks, maps and finance sites by integrating them by default into the search, whereas other competitors like Map Quest don't have this chance and are dying off slowly like Netscape did.

    3. Re:Please no by DCTech · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Google just doesn't understand why people want to use social networking sites and what people want. Here is blog post by a guy who worked at Google and decided to leave to Facebook, and here is another ex-Googler who worked on Google+. They're both saying that Google only catched upon social networking lately and didn't care about it at all before. Yet they still continue to make so stupid mistakes. And of course, here is a good article about the whole transparency thing at Google.

    4. Re:Please no by gmuslera · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There are a lot of companies that jumped late to the game and still did some hit, like Apple with MP3s or phones and even Google itself with search. The trick is doing it well. Will this move from google (or in general, the ongoing integration of all their services into/around G+) succeed or not? Time will tell

    5. Re:Please no by Trepidity · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't think it's entirely lack of understanding; part of it is, but part of it is having ulterior motives for their social network, which includes a design requirement that it's got to somehow 'synergize' with their search business.

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  2. This kinda breaks things for me by OS24Ever · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When I'm searching it's because 'my world' doesn't know the answer and I have to go elsewhere. Filtering out people I don't know first makes it harder to find things.

    If I had a google+ account I guess I would care, unless this forces me to create one which means I have an issue.

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    As a rock-in-roll Physicist once said, No matter where you go, there you are.

    1. Re:This kinda breaks things for me by TheSpoom · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The idea isn't increasing utility, the idea is promoting Google Plus.

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      It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
      - E. Debs
  3. No more lmgtfy by CharmElCheikh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So now we won't be able to copy-paste a google search to someone to brag "AHAH ! First page, first result!" because everyone's result will be different. Not sure that's a great feature.

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    My /. user ID is probably higher than yours
  4. Fine. by AdamJS · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Google used to be good. Really really good. In a sea of paid-priority listing search engines that returned mostly crap, and the same crap at that, they were a shining diamond.

    But for quite some time, their results have been getting far worse, the search has gotten LESS flexible (and more "I know what you want to search for, NOT you, the user") and they've become that which they were supposed to be better than. That even MSN/Live/MS/Bing can return better results and actually listens to my syntax far better than Google is a travesty.

    So they can take their final self-administered nail in their coffin and bugger off.