Google Fuses Google+ Into Search — And There Are Bigger Changes Afoot

[YosemiteSam]

As a G+ user, this is good! I'm extremely close to dropping Facebook all together.

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And today, Google is launching an update to its core search engine at Google.com that continues this trend — and then some. They’re calling it ‘Search plus Your World’.

The short version is that Google search results are going to be automatically personalized (to a greater degree than they were already) for each user, with signals drawn from your Google+ Circles being used to highlight things your friends — or you, yourself — have shared. Any of these personalized matches will appear alongside ‘normal’ search results. And Google will also pull in photos shared on Picasa or Google+ (they’ll even show up if you’ve marked them private, but they’ll still only be visible to you).

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It’s starting small, with Google+ and Picasa integration. But over time we’ll likely see results from Google Docs, Gmail, Contacts, Music, Voice, Wallet, and so on. You’ll go to Google.com, type in whatever it is you’re looking for, and you’ll see both your own content alongside web results. It’ll be an Omnibox for everything, and if it figures out a way to incorporate third-party data as well (be it through partnerships or APIs), it could be very powerful.

Complete Story

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Signed up for Google plus and think I may have visited it twice since signing up.

It's not that I don't like it. I think there are some really cool features and ideas with it but after getting so many "friends" on facebook I don't feel like starting over since I already did that from ******* to facebook.

 

[vta]

Signed up for Google plus and think I may have visited it twice since signing up.

It's not that I don't like it. I think there are some really cool features and ideas with it but after getting so many "friends" on facebook I don't feel like starting over since I already did that from ******* to facebook.

Just out of curiosity, why is ******* starred out?

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Just out of curiosity, why is ******* starred out?

There was some reason for it a few years ago but I don't recall what it was.

 

[YosemiteSam]

It's probably easier for me since I don't talk to many people anyhow on FB. I have only friended 67 and hardly talk to any of them on that site. I mainly use it as a way to get information from my family or from an association that I belong too.

G+ is growing rapidly though. On December 27th, it was estimated to have 62 million users. They say it's gaining about 625,000 users a day and is expected to have around 400 million users by the end of 2012.

That will make it about half the size of Facebook today. By the end of 2012, I suspect I won't be the only person to migrate away from Facebook.

These numbers were guesstimates by Paul Allen btw.

As a side note, Google created a site called socialstatistics.com that tracks about 90,000 G+ profiles. (it's an opt-in thing) Sometimes it's interesting to dig into them. Besides the 90k profiles, it also tracks the most popular posts.

I use almost all of Google services (search, apps, G+, Picasa, G-Docs, mail, calendar, etc) Merging search result to also find items in all of these services is a huge step forward.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

I don't post much on Facebook. I do play a few games though and it is something I do on a daily basis. I just hate the idea of just starting all over again for something that I basically just play a few games on and occasionally talk with a few people on.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I don't post much on Facebook. I do play a few games though and it is something I do on a daily basis. I just hate the idea of just starting all over again for something that I basically just play a few games on and occasionally talk with a few people on.

I can see where you are coming from. Facebook just wasn't my thing. Google+ is more useful for me. (read, it isn't a FB clone) It's more like a FB, news feed, twitter feed, blog feed, friends feed, etc all rolled into one. The best part about it is it's sortable. ie, you can put people into different feed streams and only read what you are interested in at that moment. Or you can just use the general feed and see everything.

 

[WoodysGirl]

I can see where you are coming from. Facebook just wasn't my thing. Google+ is more useful for me. (read, it isn't a FB clone) It's more like a FB, news feed, twitter feed, blog feed, friends feed, etc all rolled into one. The best part about it is it's sortable. ie, you can put people into different feed streams and only read what you are interested in at that moment. Or you can just use the general feed and see everything.

You can do that with FB, too. Create a list, add some people/pages, and then read that list of people/page whenever you feel like it.

 

[YosemiteSam]

You can do that with FB, too. Create a list, add some people/pages, and then read that list of people/page whenever you feel like it.

I heard that added that and a circle like feature too so you can post stuff to only certain people also. Like iPhone and Android, they are learning from each other. That can only mean good things.

 

[WoodysGirl]

I heard that added that and a circle like feature too so you can post stuff to only certain people also. Like iPhone and Android, they are learning from each other. That can only mean good things.

Yeah, that feature was there long before the list stuff was added. About a 1/3 of my list are people I network with only. I hide my more personal iterations from them. lol

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Billy Joel has a new single coming out....



"Say Goodbye to Pri-v-acy..... Say Goodbye my ba-by!"

Bobby's browsin' through the web tonight
Through google's hot new social network
He joins the masses in this security breach
It's a scene from a movie on Sunset Boulevard
Say goodbye to Pri-v-acy
Say goodbye, my baby
Say goodbye to Pri-v-acy
Say goodbye, my baby

Johnny's uploading things for a while
And his style is out for all to see
They got him sitting with his back to the unlocked door
Now he won't have security anymore
Say goodbye to Pri-v-acy
Say goodbye, my baby
Say goodbye to Pri-v-acy
Say goodbye, my baby

Chorus:
Goin' online is a chance you take
Any time you try to stay - private
Whoa
Post a word out of line
And you find that friends and strangers
Know all about your forever
Forever

 

[YosemiteSam]

So far Facebook has been the biggest privacy offender.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

So far Facebook has been the biggest privacy offender.

Yes they are up there.


But BOTH have been pawning off info to 3rd party companies for yearsssss

 

[tupperware]

Yeah I'm not so sure I want anyone in my "circle" knowing what I look at in the middle of the night.. they wouldn't stay in my circle if they did. Also, does this give new meaning to the phrase circle jerk?

 

[YosemiteSam]

Yeah I'm not so sure I want anyone in my "circle" knowing what I look at in the middle of the night.. they wouldn't stay in my circle if they did. Also, does this give new meaning to the phrase circle jerk?