By Janet Maragioglio | Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:02 pm |
Facebook and Twitter engineers tweaked Google's algorithm, opening search results to social media sites other than Google+, as antitrust scrutiny ramps up against the Internet giant.
Earlier this month, Google introduced new search features, collectively called "Search Plus Your World," which allow users to access information from social network connections in their search results. The new algorithm prioritizes content published on Google+, however, provoking the ire of rival social media sites and raising antitrust concerns.In response to Google's newest search feature, Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace engineers created a "bookmarklet" called "Focus on the User," which ultimately includes information from their own sites, not just Google+, in Google's newly enhanced search results. By installing the bookmarklet on the bookmarks bar in Chrome, Firefox, or Safari browsers and clicking on it, a user can update Google search results and change the "people and pages on Google+" featured box to "people and pages from the Social Web," widening results to include social network information from a variety of social networks. The engineers labeled the bookmarklet "Don't be evil," revealing the strong feelings Google's latest search improvements inspire among rival social media sites. Twitter, for example, released a statement outlining concerns Google is driving traffic to its social media site and ultimately its advertisers under the guise of enhancing search for user convenience. The social media world isn't the only entity scrutinizing Google's every move. The
Federal Trade Commission is investigating the Internet giant's business practices, focusing on whether the company violates antitrust laws by giving its own partner sites and services top billing in searches. If the antitrust claims hold up, Google will face the task of rewriting its ranking algorithms and overhauling its database, damaging its reputation as a trustworthy search engine and inhibiting its ability to drive users to its other services and products. Google is under fire abroad as well, as the European Commission scrutinizes its business practices for antitrust violations, casting doubt on the company's bid to buy Motorola and putting it at risk for high fines and further damage to its name. Social media sites depend on advertising revenues to thrive, and with new sites launching, the quest for those advertising dollars is ramping up. Social networks use every tool at their disposal to drive users to their sites and encourage them to click on ads. Google may come under greater scrutiny due to its search dominance, which gives it a possibly unfair advantage in the marketplace because it is so easily integrated with other services and features, possibly without users' knowledge or consent. Since its inception, Google's search engine has "customized" searches based on users' previous queries using cookies, but with the rollout of its latest set of search features, it may have gone too far. A group of engineers is putting some of the power back in users' hands with Focus on the User, as federal regulators decide Google's ultimate fate.
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