Google is sifting through the photos and commentary on its blossoming social network — Google+ — so its Internet search results can include more personal information. Google already tracks everything you do while inside any of its online services to make money off your data. The trade-off is worth it, many people will argue. Even if Google is able to learn a lot of details about you, it offers invaluable services including Gmail, Google Maps, and search. So if you’re already letting Google aggregate your data, you should know that Google Search now puts this particular skill to good use for you.
The additional personal touches coming out mark another step toward one of Google’s most ambitious goals. The Internet search leader eventually hopes to know enough about each of its users so it can tailor its results to fit the unique interests of each person looking for something.
Google is tackling that challenge with an addition to its results called “Search, plus your world.”
The Personal tab might not be immediately obvious to users, but it’s right there on Google Search, buried inside the More option.
When you search the web, Google categorizes the results. You might be looking for All results for a query, or just for Images, Maps, or News. That’s right, that’s the menu where you’ll find the More option.
So what’s inside the Personal you ask? Well, the tab will show you relevant results that contain the keywords, but these results come from your Google usage. The Personal tab shows you results that are only visible to you for any items, and they can originate from Google Photos, Calendar or Gmail. Google Drive support isn’t included, but it’s possible that it’ll show up in the future.
The Personal tab might not show up for all Google users at this time, but it should appear to all users shortly.
If you want to prevent Google from delivering any private results, you can simply go to your Google Account in the Search Settings area and tick the Do Not use private results option in the Private results section.
The personal search results should show up in search only when you’re signed in. So if you want to guard your privacy, you should sign out of your Google account on computers shared with others if you want to use this new search option.
Final thoughts
Google isn’t the first to do this. Microsoft Corp.’s Bing search engine has been mining some of the preferences and other information shared on Facebook. But Google’s emphasis on more personal results figures to attract more attention because its search engine is so dominant. Facebook, though, has greater insights into personal tastes. That’s because its nearly 8-year-old social network boasts more than 800 million users who share more than 1.5 billion photos alone each week. While Google is hoping the addition of more personal results will make its search engine even more useful, the changes also could spook some people as they realize how much information is being compiled about them. Google tried to minimize privacy concerns by recently switching to technology that encrypts all its search results to protect the information from slipping out.
http://https://youtu.be/8Z9TTBxarbs
2 Comments
So much to expect from Google, it has become what we can’t do without. Not only to search for questions alone, but to also have more fun when you are on internet. Kudos to Google for adding more activities to it’s features.
Pingback: Google Search has become a lot more “Personal” - ADPLUS MEDIA