Facebook is a rage and everyone around is hooked to it.  And I am no exception. I must confess that I too am obsessed with the networking site.The fact that Facebook and Google are at loggerheads is an open secret. As a major search engine Google was enjoying its share of privileges and benefits. And then Facebook happened!

In a bid to arrest the Facebook mania, Google+ came into being amid much hype, pomp and show. And now all of a sudden we have the “Search Plus Your World.” It is a clear attempt from Google to save itself from losing the titan clash to Facebook. Appearance of Google+ on search results is a mere trick to promote and entice entice the users to connect with the search engine’s in-house networking site.

Courtesy: http://mirolta.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/google-vs-facebook.jpg

This new feature paves way for the search results to be loaded with additional data from the world of Google. That means Google has added a personal touch to the results by including Google+ profiles, business pages, posts, and Google+ and Picasa photos.Google aims at promoting its own Google+ over Facebook and Twitter in search results. In this significant move, the search giant will squeeze data from Google+ in search results while the user is simultaneously logged into the Google account.This innovative idea has nevertheless, not gone down well with others and Twitter is already complaining of Google’s move to be biased and against its own ethos. Twitter is afraid that it will be harder to use Google to find timely Twitter posts about breaking news such as tweets from protesters in countries like Egypt and Syria.Google is planning to roll out this opt-out feature to its global audience in the next few days. However, only the users using English as search platform would be able to avail this service.

“Search is still limited to a universe of web pages created publicly, mostly by people you’ve never met. Today, we’re changing that by bringing your world, rich with people and information, into search,” Amit Singhal, Google Fellow announced on the official Google blog.With this Google aspires to add a personal touch to search by including results from people familiar with the searcher. Search plus Your World is the first step towards revolutionizing the age old format of searching information online.

Three types of data that will show up using the new service:

• Personal results

The search includes data from your own Google+ photos and posts as well as data shared on Google+. Results may include non-public Google+ photos and posts that were shared with you or posts you shared with a select group of people.

• Profiles in search

As the name suggest, results will display Google+ profiles as a result to the search query. The new profile results will also include Google+ profiles of celebrities like authors, musicians, and actors.

• People and pages

These results are corresponding to Google+ business pages and notable Google+ users.Many believe that Google, with its unprecedented move, might land itself in the antitrust trouble over Search plus Your World. In the end it is the user who gets to decide whether he wants Google+ to mess up the search results or not. If the answer is NO then he can simply turn it off by adjusting the search settings once the new feature rolls out to his account!

Social networking is going to limit the madness of launches of networking portals like Facebook, Google Me and now maybe new one Socl.com. According to Tech-crunch Microsoft has “unintentionally” leaked its own social networking platform. Microsoft is functioning on a social web networking project called Tulalip, according to “splash page” that was accidentally published on Socl.com recently.

By the looks of it, this again is going to be a venture into “social search” and Social network. A picture of upper side landing page by Microsoft is shown above which reveals socl.com as a new “social search” service.

The project name Tulalip accidentally came on the Web which Microsoft later took it down. Though Microsoft has confirmed that it is a Microsoft Research project that has been recently registered nothing can be said for certain. Whatever it may be right now it does seem to look more like a social networking site.

The speculations continue as nothing definite has been said by Microsoft. The picture as you can see shows their incorporation with Facebook and Twitter. The search box on the top is non-operational. Also it’s being conjectured that socl.com is going to be based on the web language HTML5.

Twitter is another excellent Social Media tool that cannot be overlooked. The site has become an important communication tool for many businesses and individuals that want to get their message out to others around the globe in 140 characters or less. Thousands of companies have joined Twitter in addition to Facebook. Through Twitter, you can ‘tweet’t your message out about many different subjects. There is a search feature where your company will be able to reply to anything that is said about it. This is a great reputation management and customer service tool as well. Many businesses are taking advantage of Twitter’s great search features to help manage their online reputation and enhance their customer service satisfaction ratings. Both of these Social Media outlets are excellent, free tools for building your business and driving traffic to your website. As mentioned before, they are both free and after the initial set up, which requires an investment of a minimum amount of time on your part, you will see the difference it makes at the bottom line. Allowing for consumers’ reviews via these social networking site also help in building faith in the brand, and gaining a dedicated customer base.Twitter and Facebook reach their full potential as a cheaper, quicker, and more effective way to market a business on the internet, making them definite options that one should consider when it comes to looking for a way to advertise.