A lot has been written about search going social. It has even prompted Google to add social layers to its products across the board. While Google does that and keeps us guessing what their plans are, there are some interesting changes with Google profiles.
Google is already looking to make profile pages a lot more attractive by allowing Picasa web albums being displayed on it.
I was looking up my Google profile after a long time and noticed that I could add 6 different social networks to my Google profile.
How to add accounts to Google Profile!
- First you need a Gmail account. If you have used Gmail, your profile exists. Visiting it by typing in http://google.com/profiles
- Sign-in to your account and look up Account Settings from the extreme top right hand corner. The option looks somewhat like a wheel from a gear.
- Now check up connected accounts and simply add your social profiles to these. You can visit http://profiles.google.com/connectedaccounts directly if you are already logged into your Gmail account.
At the moment the big difference after you add these accounts it when you carry out social search queries on Google. But when it comes to the profile, the added accounts show up as not so different from the other links you can add manually. This probably means Google is looking to do something different with accounts from these social media.
I wonder if Google is planning to build a super social network in the form of Google Profiles, which allows us to manage and look up all our social presence from one place.
Also Google does not treat social profiles as real people but just another link. This might be a way to tying up those links! What are your views?
Do drop in your comments.
Link: Google Profile