One person’s tooth discomfort is another person’s dentist recommendation. While that might not be exactly how the saying goes, Google’s newly launched Social Search allows just that. If one of my friends tweets about a dreaded upcoming trip to the dentist, I’m actually quite interested because I’m looking for a dentist in the area. As someone in the market for a new D.D.S., I can run a Social Search on the term and see who in any of my social networks has mentioned “dentist.” I can then reach out to this person to get their opinion/review of their dentist. 
The primary goal of Social Search is to ‘find more relevant public content’ from within the social circles we engage in. Social Search runs alongside Google’s search platform, so users see traditional results, as well as more personalized, applicable results from their network. Social Search pulls from social platforms such as Flickr, MySpace, and LinkedIn, as well as contacts from Gmail, and other Web sites linked to a user’s Google Profile. (For Social Search to work, you must have a Google Profile.)
Google announced last week that they have partnered with Twitter, so tweets will soon appear in search results. Regarding Facebook, public information is searchable, but Google is still working to secure a partnership with Facebook that will allow information from a user’s profile to appear in search results. If Google can get Facebook to agree to a partnership (Bing already sealed the deal), this could be useful to assess the interests of a Facebook group’s members or a page’s fans. Take a top Autism awareness Facebook group: compare social search outcomes for a variety of secondary topics and see what the target audience (in this case, the Autism community) has on its mind. Or, consider the military health thought leaders you follow on Twitter and use Social Search to find out who’s talking about suicide prevention among soldiers and then use this list to formulate a strategy for outreach and engagement with these influencers.
Social Search also allows you to dig deeper into relationships you’ve already established. For example, let’s say a relative was recently diagnosed with breast cancer: you run a social search and find that one of your LinkedIn contacts has a blog about her journey through chemotherapy. You probably didn’t know this professional contact of yours had breast cancer, but now she could be a great resource for you as you navigate this experience with your loved one.
A general overview of Google Lab’s latest experiment is demonstrated here by Maureen Heymans, Technical Lead for Google:
If you’d like to try it yourself, activate Social Search on Google Labs’ Experimental page.
Social Search provides Internet users with a more interactive experience. With a lack of credibility long being a drawback to the Internet, this tool will help strengthen and expand circles of influence and allow users to gain meaningful information from trusted communities.
Tags: facebook, Google, Google Labs, Social Search
Sounds like an awesome way to connect new media..losing any privacy could be an issue..