Google recently announced changes to its formula which push Google+ and Picassa content to the forefront of search results. Twitter soon expressed its dislike for the search changes in an official statement.
Unofficially, Twitter’s general counsel and former Google employee, Alex Macgillivray, criticized Google’s move in a tweet earlier today, saying it was a “bad day for the Internet.” He also remarked that there was probably “dissension” over at Google regarding search being “warped.”
Officially, Twitter sent out a statement which contained a large measure of disappointment over Google’s lack of integrity, saying, “for years, people have relied on Google to deliver the most relevant results.” The Twitter statement raised concerns that breaking news on Twitter itself would be harder to find due to the search changes. The micro-blogging service concluded by saying “we think that’s bad for people, publishers, news organizations and Twitter users.”
The “Search, plus your world” move by Google is an attempt to promote and make Google+ a central product. It basically personalizes search results; popping up Google+ content from user’s network based on relevant keywords.
Previously, Google and Twitter had a deal that fed tweets into Google’s real-time search results. However, that contract expired in July, and without the Twitter feed, Google was forced to put real-time search on a hiatus. At that time, Google said real-time search would most likely integrate Google+ content once it came back from its hiatus.
According to TechCrunch, Google seems to have responded to Twitter’s criticism with a post on the official Google+ page: “We are a bit surprised by Twitter’s comments about Search plus Your World, because they chose not to renew their agreement with us last summer (http://goo.gl/chKwi), and since then we have observed their rel=nofollow instructions.”
This article was originally posted on Digital Trends
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