So yesterday saw the underwhelming launch of Google’s real time search results. Google have a history of just launching fairly revolutionary products with little or no promotion, I guess they’re just in the business of constantly changing the game. “Oh we’re making an operating system…Just thought we’d let you know”
Yesterday, in a shower of non-publicity, they announced partnerships with Jaiku, Facebook, FriendFeed and Bebo and integrated live data from these services into their search results. This is the first time anyone has done this, and as TechCrunch put it, “this is huge.” I guess Google aren’t into making a fuss.
Of course this will continue to develop and get more and more interesting as it does so. The moment the search includes real time results specifically from my own friends is the moment this will really change the game. What if I type “netbooks” into Google and I’m immediately given all the thoughts of my friends on which products are the best and worst. Could links be ranked based on what my friends said and linked to, rather than what the whole web said? This would seriously shake things up.
Of course for this to happen then Google would really need to push the idea of people logging into Google to get better search results. All of their latest features are getting people used to the idea of logging in – the prominence of Gmail accounts, and soon enough the promise of personalised search results could really extend the use of Google accounts. Of all the brands to trust with your personal data, surely Google would be trusted as most responsible? Microsoft lost all of T-Mobile’s data, the UK Government is in the habit of leaving USB sticks on trains, and Microsoft…well..they’re Microsoft. Google are a data company, data is what they do, and if it means better search results I’m happy for them to have mine. Would you link all of your social networking accounts to Google if you could?
Real time results are one thing, personal results are whole new ball game.
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