“For Google, it’s personal. The Internet search giant is no longer going to roll out the same search results to everyone,” Jessica Guynn reports for The Los Angeles Times. “Starting Tuesday, Google will pluck only the results most relevant to you — and not just from billions of Web pages but from the personal stuff that you and your connections privately share. The idea, says Google Fellow Amit Singhal, is that Google now searches your world, not just the Web, and serves up results that combine both for your eyes only. ‘Your world was missing from search until now,’ he said. ‘We are bringing your world into search.'”
“It’s not just a radical departure for Google. It’s a major salvo in the Internet search giant’s rivalry with Facebook for eyeballs and ad dollars. Google, with founder Larry Page at the helm, has been looking to blunt the growing influence of Facebook, which is on the verge of a $100-billion initial public stock offering,” Guynn reports. “Google has been adding more personal touches to its search engine as people flock to Facebook, the Web’s most popular hangout with more than 800 million users who share personal photos, updates and recommendations,” Guynn reports. “Now it’s looking to combine its dominant search engine with its nascent social networking service, Google+.”
Guynn reports, “It’s doing this in three ways. First, it’s expanding search beyond public Web pages to the photos and posts you and others have shared privately. Second, as you type a person’s name into Google, it will automatically suggest people you are close to or may be interested in. Third, Google is guiding users to profiles and Google+ pages related to the topic of interest.”
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