Social Search vs Social Media

I've been evangelizing lately about "Social Search" vs "Social Media".

I think social search is one of the biggest game changers in the way search results are displayed.

Our search results depend on who we are connected to, who is in our social circle.

Social Media is content that is shared socially.

Social Media Sites (like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr) help us to find, connect and share our information with each other.

Social Search takes social media to the next level.


If you are in someone's social circle, your public content may appear on Page 1 of Google Search results. Creating good, fresh content on your website and blog, is more important than ever.

Here's what I'm talking about:


I do a search for "Photography". My results include authority sites like "photography.com" and "wikipedia" at the top of the page. It is followed by Google Maps Local 7 pack, then more authority sites and then my friends! These small sites that typically don't make it to Page 1 now show up under "Social Circle" followed by videos and blogs.



The easiest way to take advantage of social search is to create a Google Profile and link all your social sites from that profile. Also, sharing information via Google Reader will fast track your social search results.

Seriously...I get so discouraged when I see my "social" results and my friend aren't there. They aren't showing up because they don't connect with Gmail, or Google Reader, or Twitter, or Flickr....they aren't using the main open social networks.