Tyler M, April 7th, 2010

Google is up to something social.

I’m not exactly sure what the significance of this is now or will be in the future as the solitary example of this that I’ve seen doesn’t feel very important. That said, here it is:

Google is providing me with search results based on “my social circle” and offers further links to said social circle as well as my social content. I looked into what my social content was, and apparently it’s an old blogger blog that I haven’t touched in a year. That leads me to wonder what other social content I might be providing in the future and what Google services that content might be derived from. I’m thinking: public Google docs and Google wave. That doesn’t leave a lot to draw from.

But if I look at the results in my example above, clearly the gmail account I’m signed in with must be connected to another one of my accounts (probably not gmail) from which it found the Advertisers Page on SpainExpat.com. Since that page is not hosted by any Google service, that means it must be tied to one of my accounts used with Google’s Webmaster Tools. I’m not sure if I would want those in my social circle knowing that I’m the webmaster for some sites out there (say, a porn site for example, this is hypothetical!).

Alright, all of the above comes without having actually Googled for more info on this new feature. Having now done so, check out Google’s video and explanation about social results here. It also talks about Google’s new Profile feature, which I’m about to head over to to update and verify.

Go check your profile too, either to get more accurate social results or to ensure your activity isn’t being shared with those you don’t want to share it with.