For some time the technorati and blogosphere have been wildly speculating on where Google + would go next.  Since launching last year it is the fastest growing social media site, beating Twitter, Linked In and Facebook for user growth over time. However, it is still mainly the realm for the early adopters, and a hub for the geeks. I count myself among them…

However, when Google announced in early January the plans for “Search plus your world”, the grand plan became a little clearer.The master plan to integrate Google+ even deeper to the world of Google begins with the ability to search against bot global web results as normal, but also with relevance to your own G+ network. That’s right, SEO fiends – a presence on G+ really is essential if you want to have elevated results showing in the search engine.

 

This integration with Google plus means that circles, photos, posts, comments and +1’s will be more integrated to searches. With Google being synonymous with internet searching, this makes the power of their social presence MASSIVE.

Jack Menzel, Google’s Product Management Director of Search explained that Google+ users will have the ability to “search across information that is private and only shared to you, not just the public web.”(via Mashable). This is known by Google as access to “your web.”  Not only that, but a new announcement that search results can be shared straight off the search page brings a new social element to the simple act of fact finding and searching. Google’s integration of Google+ and search is hugely powerful, and will change immensely the way we search, who we share with, and the way information is gleaned from the web.

However, what are the implications of searching in this way? Whilst it benefits G+ users with a web presence, the results will of course be skewed; Google doesn’t index the full content of Facebook or Twitter’s content so it cannot give a true representation of content online. The global search giant came under attack from Twitter, saying in a statement issued “We’re concerned that as a result of Google’s changes, finding this information will be much harder for everyone. We think that’s bad for people, publishers, news organizations and Twitter users.’

How this affects the way we socialise remains to be seen, and the threat to Facebook is tangible, if not imminent.

Are you on G+? How do you feel about the new search capability? We’ve just started using G+ at blur Group, so be sure to add us to your circle.