This week, Google launched a new feature called Google Personalized Search. What does Google have to say about their new feature?
“We’re transforming Google into a search engine that understands not only content, but also people and relationships. We began this transformation with Social Search, and today we’re taking another big step in this direction by introducing three new features:
Personal Results, which enable you to find information just for you, such as Google+ photos and posts—both your own and those shared specifically with you, that only you will be able to see on your results page;
Profiles in Search, both in autocomplete and results, which enable you to immediately find people you’re close to or might be interested in following; and,
People and Pages, which help you find people profiles and Google+ pages related to a specific topic or area of interest, and enable you to follow them with just a few clicks. Because behind most every query is a community.”
The Washington Post reviewed the tool in their article entitled Google launches personal search tool linked with social media. I found it interesting that Google now both indexes everything they can find on the Web, but also has decided that the opinions and articles written by people closest to you are the most relevant. It could significantly narrow one’s access to new points of view.This article would have been more useful if it compared Google’s recent news to any new product improvements from Bing. I haven’t followed very closely what is happening with their Facebook integration and partnership.
The first thing I did when I heard about this was open a second browser, one which I was not logged into any Google profiles. I made the same search and compared the results I got back from the two browsers – one where Google knew who I was and one where it didn’t.
It will be interesting to see if Google chooses to keep or can this new feature.
