Last month, Google added something new to your search results.  Google is calling it Search, plus Your World.  The feature imbeds information shared by you and your social networking friends into your primary search results.  While it won’t include information from Facebook, Twitter or other sites (at this point), Search, plus Your World does include content shared by your connections on the Google+ social network and Google’s Picasa photo sharing site.

Search, plus Your World won’t reveal any of your private information that wasn’t already available.  In fact, you and your friends’ information on Google+ and Picasa has been accessible for a while; the only difference was you had to search for it in a different place. Now, it’s all combined with your normal web search. As a result, social networking information from your friends will be at the top of your Google search results.  Sure, it’s a little more “in-your-face” but Google users can always disable the feature if they don’t like it.

What’s it like?

It might be disturbing to see you your friends’ personal Google+ status feeds at the top of a normal web search. In the past, Google searches didn’t include such highly personalized information.  But basically, your experience will be like this:  Let’s say you want to see recent photos of your 10-year-old nephew, Johnny. Well, simply type in your nephew’s name. Any recent photos posted by your sister on Picasa or Google+ will appear at the top of your search results.

Alternatively, you might need a new muffler for your car, so you search “Best Muffler Shops in Miami Beach.” At the top, you’ll see any posts made by your friends relating to those search words. Maybe a friend commented on a great muffler shop in a status update (which could be really helpful information); or, since Miami Beach is also part of the search, you might see some pictures of friends spending time at the beach. Below the personalized results, you’ll see the normal links relevant to local muffler shops – and hopefully you’ll find a good place to fix your car.

Don’t worry, your privacy is still in tact

It’s important to note that Google has followed through on its extreme commitment to the privacy of your information. Search, plus Your World is just as its name implies. It’s a regular Google search that also includes information from your world, and only from your world.  Therefore, with regard to your privacy, your personal information will only appear in the search results of people who you’ve already given access to it – whether that happens to be the entire world or just a couple of friends. Also, the information specific to your web search results will be encrypted so only you and your web browser can see it.  It won’t be possible for a network administrator or anyone else to spy on your search results or those of your friends.

Again, if you’ve shared information or pictures publicly, it could appear in the search results of anyone. But if you’ve shared pictures or posts with only certain individuals, then that information will only appear in the search results of those individuals.  Still, one setback could be older posts that you’ve forgotten about.  Perhaps 10 years ago you were living a crazy life or saying things you might be embarrassed of today.  Well, if someone searches on a topic relevant to one of those embarrassing things – there it will be!

 What the critics are saying

Not everyone is happy about Search, plus Your World. Some businesses worry that the personalized information at the top of search results will interfere with their customers’ ability to find them. Indeed, if you are searching for muffler shops in Miami Beach, you’ll have to scroll past all the information relevant to your family and friends at the top of the results before you can find the muffler shop that’s going to fix your car.

Much to the chagrin of these businesses, they will need to have a presence on Google+ in order to continue appearing at the top of your search results. Not only that, but they will need to entice you to add them into one of your Google+ circles before they can show up in your personalized results. In this regard, businesses who establish a sweeping presence on Google+ will have a distinct advantage in terms of appearing at the top of Google searches.  And this is why some critics are saying Search, plus Your World is just a sneaky way for Google to expand the size and scope its Google+ network.

 What the proponents are saying

Google and other proponents are touting the many positive benefits of Search, plus Your World. They say that Google is becoming a search engine that will strengthen human relationships and the connections people have with family and friends. They refer to Search, plus Your World as a “Social Search,” as opposed to a traditional web and Internet search. Indeed, there is a vast amount of personal information available on social networks and photo/video sharing websites – why not make that searchable too?

 What’s next for Google, Search plus Your World?

As you may already know, personalized search results with Google are nothing new under the sun. For years, Google has tailored search results to specific users based on their usage statistics. For example, users who often search about wine or vacations in Napa Valley may find websites relating to those topics more frequently in their search results. They will also see advertising related to those topics on the Google website. In this sense, Search, plus Your World is a natural evolution of Google’s commitment to customizing search results so they are highly relevant to individual users.

At this point, Google’s web crawlers don’t have access to Facebook and Twitter’s vast databases of personal information, so information from those and similar sites won’t be included in your search results.  However, Google says it’s open to the idea of including this kind of data from Twitter and Facebook should they choose to share it.  Therefore, the Search, plus Your World could be the sign of some very big changes to come in terms of what is and isn’t searchable via Google’s search engine.  If Facebook, Twitter, and others open up, it will be some very big news for Google and the current structure of the Internet.

 Check it out for yourself!

All in all, you should be relieved to know that Search, plus Your World will not be broadcasting you and your friends’ private information all over the world (any more so than it’s already being done). It’s just that your Google search will look a little different, along with some familiar faces of your friends embedded inside. And of course, you can always disable the feature if you don’t like it.

So, if you haven’t already done it, log into Google now and see if Search, plus Your World is currently active on your account. Then you can decide for yourself whether it’s annoying, useless or the best thing since sliced bread.