Has Google gone too far in favouring Google Plus?

Google’s Search Plus Your World (SPYW) update has become the focus of feverish debate among internet professionals.

The update, which was introduced on January 10th, adds results from a user’s Google Plus network to its search returns.

For many, this is a natural evolution in the science of search, after all internet use over the last few years has increasingly moved to social networks and therefore it is natural that search should follow into that web space.

However, opponents of the change (and there are many) argue that the results are far too heavily weighted in favour of Google’s own Google Plus network and represent a backdoor route for the company to force people into adopting its network.

Currently, Facebook and Twitter results are not listed because, Google says, their competitors have forbidden the deep indexing of their sites.

Google has publicly stated that it is willing to work with its rival companies to include their results, which may be necessary as a number of politicians in both the USA and Europe have questioned whether Google’s new update falls foul of regulations governing monopolies.

According to Google CEO Larry Page, the Google Plus network is growing at an impressive rate. Last week’s financial statement from the company claimed that the service had 90 million users and that 60% visited daily. However, many observers claimed the figures were misleading and Google has been coy about reporting how much actual interaction occurred on the network.

Whatever the truth, Google Plus still has a long to go before matching social media market leader Facebook, which claims 50% of its 800 million users log in daily.