Matcha Design Blog

Google has recently added Google+ as a source for Google Search results. So recently in fact, that the change has not been implemented for everyone yet. There's already a lot of information (and mis-information) flying around the internet regarding this new feature. Firstly, I'm going to address some of the more common concerns I've seen raised in articles and comment threads.

• This new feature shares private information with the whole world.
  Amazingly, I've actually seen articles from relatively respectable tech sites make this claim. It's completely false. Nothing from Google+ will be displayed in Google Search results that the searcher couldn't have found by searching Google+ directly. In other words, if you share something with only your "Friends" circle, only those people can see it in their search results.

• If you don't like this feature you should switch search engines.
  It's actually quite simple to disable personalized search results universally in the search settings. You can also do this on a per-search basis by clicking the globe icon as opposed to the portrait icon next to the number of search results.

• Displaying privately-shared content in apparently public search results may lead to privacy concerns.
  It's true that some people may be concerned about privacy if they mistakenly believe that their privately-shared posts and photos are visible to the world just because they see them in search results, but again, this is only misconception.

• Google is advertising its own products over relevancy.
  In this case it partly depends on what you consider relevant. Some people may feel like what their friends say about a topic is much more important than a review on a stranger's blog, and some people might consider their friends' opinions to be completely worthless. Once again, this feature is easily disabled. And while Google is promoting itself to an extent, they've said repeatedly they're open to being allowed to crawl other social media outlets for similar data. More about that below.

Some people have complained that Google is pushing itself too hard in a realm that should be neutral. In particular I've seen complaints when it comes to the suggestions of Google+ profiles to add to your circles based on you search. I see the Google+ recommendations almost as ads, not search results (as they're off to the side, not inline with normal results,) and so part of me says they can put whatever they want there. Although it would certainly be helpful to users to have other social media results there as well, it seems there may still be problems with usage agreements preventing that from being possible and/or practical. That being said, I think the other G+ integrations are actually partly intended as incentive to get other social media outlets to provide Google with data from their servers that allows it to integrate more useful social results.

I think Google wants to provide useful, personalized results from other social media outlets. Currently there are restrictions in place that prevent Google from accessing even all publicly available content from other social networks. Facebook could allow Google to access the information of currently logged-in users in order to provide personalized results, but it currently doesn't. It does provide some of that information to Bing, however. I think that, in addition to promoting its own social network, Google is trying to force other networks to share relevant information in order to compete.

The very short version is that nothing is being shared with anyone with whom it wasn't already shared, and if you don't like it you can turn it off. For more information, there are many, many articles on the topic, but I suggest you start at the source before reading articles which may (or may not) be operating on misunderstanding.

About Matcha Design
Matcha Design is a full-service creative agency specializing in web design, print, identity, branding, interface design, video production, still photography and motion design. Using our passion for excellence, multi-cultural background, and award winning practices, we consistently provide high-quality, custom, innovative solutions to meet the diverse marketing needs of our clients. For more information, visit www.MatchaDesign.com.