Xavier Media®

As the world migrates into the cloud, corporations and entrepreneurs everywhere have the same question thought-bubbled over their heads: how can we use it to make money?

The obvious answer is selling ad space. It would not be unrealistic to imagine how many billboards go unnoticed while drivers text on their smart phones. Television is slowly migrating away from the standard model of buying commercial space as consumers flock to recorded television—even recording sports games in some cases. Magazines and newspapers lose eyeballs to online news services displayed on iPads, cell phones, and computers. Clearly, the Internet is the final frontier for ad space, and there is one source for phenomenal advertising power: Google.

Every business judges its Internet business through the Google lens. To that end, Google has just announced a new set of “social search” features to remain competitive and help businesses and entrepreneurs make money while consumers surf, as well as promoting the presence of an article on Google Plus.

What is Social Search?

Social search is the latest way to connect advertisers with consumers. The reality is that our lives are becoming increasingly Internet-dependent. We do business on the Internet. We pay bills in the cloud. We order Christmas presents on the web. We socialize online.

Social search logs your interests when logged into a social network—whether it’s Facebook, Yahoo, or now Google+–and cherry-picks ads that are best suited to the web surfer. Have you ever logged into Facebook and noticed that your favorite band has an ad on the right side of the screen, or your favorite TV show advertising a new episode? That’s a result of social search.

In theory—and in practice, for the most part—social search will get the right ads to the right consumers, increasing the effectiveness of an ad.

Google+ and Social Search

Google has just introduced “Search plus Your World,” which not only connects ads to Google searches, but to more than one article on Google Plus as well.

So, let’s say you google “Persian cats” because you’re interested in purchasing one for your family. In your vast Google Plus circles, you may have a friend with a Persian cat that loves to post Kitten Mittens’ photos on their G+ account. As soon as you hit “enter” on Google, those photos are likely to come up.

The implications are fascinating. Google’s critics are crying foul, citing privacy issues that have dogged the company as its competitors attempt to build a successful antitrust case against the corporate giant.

Does Social Search Invade Your Privacy?

What are the implications of “Search plus Your World” on personal privacy? Yes, our lives are “out there” on the Internet now, and yes, it’s a changing world, blah blah blah. However, Google Plus’s primary feature is its privacy settings. When the social network was introduced, extended control over privacy is what Google used to separate G+ from its main competitor, Facebook.

It is possible—even likely—that many Google Plus users may not utilize privacy settings to their greatest advantage. Just as MySpace and Facebook profiles can be made too public, there is risk with Google Plus as well. However, with Google Plus just as with MySpace and Facebook, privacy controls are completely up to the user.

Google and Facebook in Mortal Combat

“Search plus Your World” was designed to give Google a leg up on its main competitor: Facebook. No two companies have made more money selling Internet ad space, and no two companies have had their livelihood based on clicking ads.

As the war to monetize the Internet rages on, Google and Facebook will pave the way for advertising and determine how the Internet affects the economy. The rest of the business world is fascinated to see how “Search plus Your World” will change the world.

Amber Tate intends to get a Google+ account to keep in contact with her circle of friends, right after she gets the health insurance policy she needs from Kanetix.

 

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