UPDATED 13:15 EDT / NOVEMBER 28 2011

NEWS

Social is the Interesting Omission From Google’s Timeline on the History of Search

Google breaks down its history of search into three categories that focus on how search has evolved and what holds for the future. It focuses on its current search methodologies for how it conducts searches for Web pages and such indexed data as weather and flight information.

But most interesting is what Google omits. There is no mention of how social technologies have affected search in Google’s history as a company. Google states in a blog post today that it makes roughly 500 improvements a year to its search results:

Our goal is to get you to the answer you’re looking for faster and faster, creating a nearly seamless connection between your questions and the information you seek. That means you don’t generally need to know about the latest search feature in order to take advantage of it— simply type into the box as usual and find the answers you’re looking for.

Can you find the most recent Twitter updates in your Google search? Do any micro-updates appear? Google Plus does provide search results but only for its own results. Earlier this year Google dropped its Twitter based real-time search feature.

And social does not appear to be an important part of Google’s future. There is not any mention of “social search,” in the three guiding principles it uses for defining search and its evolution.

Universal Search: Google defines this as returning results for images, videos and of course, Web pages.  It also includes the ability to find  such items as books, maps and places.

Quick Answers: Google says it gives quick answers at the the top of a page for such information as flight times, sports scores and weather.

Future of Search: Google Instant provides search results as you type. Voice search is often used with mobile devices. We are a world defined by the form factor of devices and connected networks that include people, places and locations.

The social connection is critical for us. But how does Google view this? It is not clear at all in this timeline.

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