Google’s Search Results Get Social With Twitter, Flickr

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In an effort to personalize your search experience, Google announced they have launched an update to Google Social Search. The updated feature will find content that your connections on your public or private Google profile have shared and point it out with your search results.  The company promises it will be available for everyone by the end of the day.

Google had a Social Search filter since October 2009 which you probably didn’t know about since it was hidden in Google Labs until now. After opting in to the service, you had to click on the option on the left side column. Your social results would be displayed below. Here’s an example from the official Google blog of how it used to work:

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqWJxgp-_mU”&w=450%5D

Now, integrated with your results, you’ll see what your friends link to in their Tweets, Flickr shares and more (except for Facebook likes – but something tells us that feature is going to come soon) mixed in with your search results. If your friend shared a video on Twitter, it might show up higher than, let’s say, a slightly more popular video. Another updated feature is that you can also see shared content from your private accounts. For example, if you didn’t want to share your twitter handle in public, you can still include the account in your private Google profile and search results will also include links to people you have connected to from there. The company might also suggested linking accounts that seem to be you as determined by their algorithms; you’ll see those links on the right side of your Google search results page when you are logged into your account.

It’s not that they’re pulling up new sites for you. Google is just pulling up sites that might have normally been stuck at the sixth or seventh page, but are actually more relevant to you because your social circle is reading it. Will you try this new feature?

More on TIME.com:

Browser Extension Lets You Block Sites from Google Results

Search Engine Fight: Google’s Sting Against Microsoft’s Bing

The Eric Schmidt Era: Google 2001 vs. Google 2011