Google has kept Social Search pretty much hidden from the general public, choosing to make it an opt-in Google Labs feature. Today, however, Google is pushing the feature to beta status and turning it on for all signed-in English Googlers.
You may recall that Google Social Search is a standard search results page add-on that displays socially relevant content from people in your online social circle, as determined by your Google Profile.
With the beta release, Google’s also integrating social search into Google Image searches, which means you can scroll down to view pictures matching your query that contacts from your circle — friends and friends of friends — have shared online.
With the beta release Google is also introducing new UI elements to tie the social search experience together. So two additional links will appear next to the “Results from your social circle” heading, with “My social circle” and “My social content” taking you to pages that display your social circle in address book format and the content for your own results, respectively. The experience seems focused on information over design, so don’t expect any frills here.
We think the beta rollout to all English searchers is more significant than the initial labs feature, as it exposes the contextual search results to a mainstream search audience. While it’s officially a beta product today, the Google Social Search rollout will occur over the next few days. If you don’t have Social Search already, you can expect to start seeing the social results fairly soon.
For a demonstration of Google Social Search check out the video below:
Reviews: Google
Tags: Google, Search, social search
