Google+ data integrated into Google search results, some cry antitrust

Google Search + Your World

Today, Google announced that Google+ circles, updates and photos will be integrated into Google search results as more deeply integrated Google Social Search, giving the Google product line a major boost, pushing users into an even deeper dependency on Google and Google+, rather than seeking affirmation from their Facebook or Twitter connections.

Google Fellow, Amit Singhal said, “Search is pretty amazing at finding that one needle in a haystack of billions of webpages, images, videos, news and much more. But clearly, that isn’t enough. You should also be able to find your own stuff on the web, the people you know and things they’ve shared with you, as well as the people you don’t know but might want to… all from one search box.”

We see a major departure from traditional search as Google strengthens their ability for search to truly be social and much more natural.

Antitrust inquiries?

There is great rumbling in the tech industry about Google’s move and many believe this integration to be a monopoly, unfair to other social network updates, photos and results, placing greater emphasis in results on their social networks than others. It is being said that Google put a huge target on their backs today.

About Google, MG Siegler at ParisLemon.com writes, “You can argue that they have a monopoly on search, but it’s a natural one. They’ve earned it. They’re simply better at search than their competitors. This has always been true. It remains true. But when they use that natural monopoly to start pushing into other verticals, things get gray.”

Siegler likens Google’s move to the antitrust case of Microsoft bundling Internet Explorer with Windows, adding that it is telling that Google already has a counterargument as they argue that other social networks simply don’t allow Google to crawl them as deeply or store things. “I’m not saying that the Justice Department should look into this. I’m just saying that I think they will,” said Siegler.

Notes Siegler, “Google’s best hope here may be for Facebook to deepen its relationship with Microsoft for even more Bing social search features. Or to hope that Twitter does. But Bing is still far behind Google in search. That is unlikely to change. This is going to get interesting.”