Google has
been experimenting with social recommendations for quite some time. With the
introduction of Google+, they bridged the gap between search and social.
However, they still have experienced some difficulty in capturing market share
from sites like Yelp and Amazon in terms of highly trusted comments and ratings.
Google announced on October 11 that they are going to start using pictures from
Google profiles to associate a face to the name of ratings and reviews.
Obviously
the first thought is privacy – What if I don’t want my face all over the Internet
more so than it already is? Google addresses this concern with an opt-out
feature, for the relatively tech-savvy. This is much more helpful than the
Facebook privacy settings however, which throw you into a labyrinth in order to
navigate the complexity of their sharing settings.
The benefit
of this program is that now users will have an easier and more personal
association of ratings and reviews to their trusted network. In an ideal world,
all recommendations would come from family and friends first, which Google is
trying their best to replicate with this process. It’s a smart, calculated
move, and I am sure that it will lead towards a higher trust level with Google
reviews.
Many
start-ups and mature companies have been racing to ace the personal review
market, which is highly coveted and monetizable. I am interested to see how it pans out,
because few companies have the scale and reach of the search juggernaut.
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