google social search secrets

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This ebook is provided by: http://waystomakemoneyfastx.org The Big Reveal October 21st, 2009, the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco... Qi Lu, president of Microsoft's online services division, had just announced that Microsoft has integrated Twitter tweets and Facebook status updates into Bing's search results when Google's Vice President of Search Products and User Experience, Marissa Mayer, got up on stage and made her own announcement.

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What Social Search does, basically, is that based on what a user searches for, Google will also look for and retrieve related information from people who are “connected” to that user. Google analyzes people's connections through their Gmail contacts (for those who use Gmail) and through the various social networking sites that they've included in their Google Profile. Mayer provided a scenario as to how Social Search can be useful. Let's say a user is planning on a trip and he/she is thinking of New Zealand as one of his/her possible destinations. And, because of that, the user would like to learn more about it.

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Page 1: Google Social Search Secrets

This ebook is provided by: http://waystomakemoneyfastx.org

The Big Reveal October 21st, 2009, the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco... Qi Lu, president of Microsoft's online services division, had just announced that Microsoft has integrated Twitter tweets and Facebook status updates into Bing's search results when Google's Vice President of Search Products and User Experience, Marissa Mayer, got up on stage and made her own announcement.

Page 2: Google Social Search Secrets

“Today is a very big day for Google.” She began.

“Earlier today we announced that we reached a partnership agreement with Twitter. So, we will be featuring their tweets in our search results, as well as building a real time search.”

Then, she went on to express Google's motive behind the deal.

“We're really excited about that because this is a really fundamental need. There are times when people are searching for things that are varying in the moment and being able to have that comprehensiveness is very important. I think it demonstrates our commitment to innovating in search.”

As if it were just a small thing, Meyer neither provided any additional details about the deal nor any idea of how tweets will be incorporated in Google search. Instead, she went on to talk about a demo that they had scheduled for the night.

“The demo today is on a different note, but a related note which is social networks. We've been thinking about social networks for a long time at Google--MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, and YouTube. How could social networks help improve the search experience? And so, we're here to

Page 3: Google Social Search Secrets

demo a product that we will be launching in a few weeks on Google Labs, called Social Search.”

According to Mayer, they were working on a new Google Labs project called “Social Search” which they will be offering to users on an opt-in basis. What does it do? What Social Search does, basically, is that based on what a user searches for, Google will also look for and retrieve related information from people who are “connected” to that user. Google analyzes people's connections through their Gmail contacts (for those who use Gmail) and through the various social networking sites that they've included in their Google Profile. Mayer provided a scenario as to how Social Search can be useful. Let's say a user is planning on a trip and he/she is thinking of New Zealand as one of his/her possible destinations. And, because of that, the user would like to learn more about it. So, the user goes to Google.com and do a search on “New Zealand”. Naturally, Google will present the user with a result page containing links to some of the best online resources for New Zealand. But, what if there's somebody on the user's social network, perhaps a friend or a relative, who had already been to New Zealand—someone who might have the greater capacity to give the user first-hand tips and advice with regards to traveling to New Zealand?

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Page 4: Google Social Search Secrets

This is where Google Social Search comes in. If the user has a Google Account and a Google Profile, he/she can search his/her social networks for information that are most relevant to him/her, personally. Social Search also works with image searches. Social Search, when applied to image searches, will enable a user to look for images of or from people in his/her social network. And just as in web search, social image search results are displayed at the bottom of the image search results. Additionally, Social Search also works with local searches, or searches that are specific to a geographic location, like when you search for a restaurant in a city which you've just visited for the first time. This is where Google thinks Social Search is going to be very useful. But, since Social Search relies on Google Accounts/Profiles to work, users need to be signed in to Google for it to work. Additionally, users need to identify all the different social networks that they're a part of in their Google Profile. It's Made Beta On January 27, 2010, Google came out with an announcement on its blog saying:

“Late last year we released the Social Search experiment to make search more personal with relevant web content from your friends and online contacts. We were excited by the number of people who chose to try it out, and today Social Search is available to everyone in beta on google.com.”

Much of Social Search has remained what it was in its early test version. Though, according to Google, they've added some new features to it. Strangely enough, the announcement mentioned “Social Image Search” like it has never been mentioned before. The announcement says:

“...we've been hard at work on new features. For example, we've added social to Google Images. Now when you're doing a search on Images, you may start seeing pictures from people in your social circle. These are pictures that your friends and other contacts have published publicly to the web on photo-sharing sites like Picasa Web Albums and Flickr.”

Page 5: Google Social Search Secrets

Anyway, social image results appear under a special heading that says "Results from your social circle." (Screenshot courtesy of Google)

Notice in the screenshot the links that say "My social circle" and "My social content." These links will bring users to a page/interface where they can see the connections and content behind their social results. To be more specific, the “My social circle” interface/page shows a user his/her extended network of online contacts and how they are connected. It also allows users to add or remove people from their contact. By the way, by “extended network”, it means that social results are gathered from beyond the first degree of contacts that the user is connected to.

The "My social content" interface/page, on the other hand, displays/lists all the user's public pages that could appear in other people's social search results.

Page 6: Google Social Search Secrets

In the announcement, Google says:

“we're just beginning to scratch the surface. We're leaving a "beta" label on social results because we know there's a lot more we can do.”

And the demo video says:

“This is just the first step in our ongoing effort to ensure that Google web search is always as social as the web itself.”

Let's wait and see. By the way, if you want to try out Social Search, you can go to http://www.google.com/s2/search/social The link takes you straight to your “Social Circle” interface.

Page 7: Google Social Search Secrets

But, remember, you need to have a Google Account and a Google Profile to make it work. Also, you need to be logged in to Google. Signing Up for a Google Account Go to http://www.google.com Click on the Sign in link located on the top right corner of the page.

Click on the Create an account now link.

Enter your current email address. Enter your desired password for your Google Account.

Page 8: Google Social Search Secrets

Re-enter your password. Choose your location. Enter the characters shown for word verification. Click on the button labeled I accept. Create my account.

Check your email and click on the verification link.

Page 9: Google Social Search Secrets

Creating Your Google Profile Go to http://www.google.com/profiles Click on the Create my profile button.

Fill out the form as your desire.

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Page 10: Google Social Search Secrets

If you are already using some Google products/sites, chances are you will see them listed under Links. Click on the Add link beside each of those sites to add them to the My Links list.

If you have sites outside of the Google corporate umbrella, chances are your site(s) will not get listed. To add your site, you will need to do so manually. Under the Link section, right underneath Add links, you will see where it says “Add

Page 11: Google Social Search Secrets

custom links to my profile”. Enter your site's URL and your link's name.

Click on the Add button (beside the Link name field) when you're done.

Click on the Create a Google Profile button when you're done.

And that's it... in just a few days (or maybe weeks), social results might just start appearing in your searches. Using Google Social Search Now that you have your Google Account and Profile all set up, you're ready to use

Page 12: Google Social Search Secrets

Social Search. Before you do any search, you must first sign in to your Google account. You can do this by clicking on the Sign in link on Google's homepage.

Once signed in, start searching. Google will then include in its search the stuff that your contacts have been sharing publicly online. According to the Social Search demo video:

“Everyone's search results can be tailored specifically for them based on what the people in their lives have posted.”

Page 13: Google Social Search Secrets

Click on “My Social Circle” in your search results to see what people in your circle have shared and a full list of your connections. (Screenshots courtesy of Google)

Page 14: Google Social Search Secrets

You can also add or remove anyone from your circle and see the changes the next time Google updates your profile. (Screenshot courtesy of Google)

Page 15: Google Social Search Secrets

For more details, watch the demo video on YouTube:

It's at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYf5iSA6t6g Knocking on Facebook's Door

Page 16: Google Social Search Secrets

Admittedly, Google's Social Search is currently having some problems with Facebook. This is due to the fact that a lot of Facebook users have limited the public's access to their profile information and Facebook doesn't allow for making users' status updates available to the public. For this, Google is missing out on the content and connections of Facebook's 350 million members worldwide. According to Maureen Heymans, technical lead for Social Search at Google:

“Social Search includes public [social network] connections. Since Facebook's connections aren't public, we can't at this time include them...”

So, according to Heymans, the best thing to do now is to point Social Search to public Facebook profile pages because they're the only thing Facebook is currently making publicly available. Also, Facebook users and administrators of Facebook groups and fan pages can adjust their privacy settings to make their data accessible to others on the Web.

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Get Inspired Weekly! Receive Free Marketing Tips, Useful Resources, Free

Downloads and Inspiring Messages Delivered To Your Inbox Every Week Subscribe now and you’ll also receive a free software!

Go To: http://waystomakemoneyfastx.org/t/gss.html