Will Google Use Social Graph Business Trust Ratings in Search Results?

The emergence of social networks has forced Google to reconsider its role of simply answering questions. Expect it to begin to incorporate logic that moves away from statistical results (who should be on top based on keywords) and towards swarm based reasoning. Swarm will utilize the opinions of a social graph (people with whom the user is connected and their connections) placing value on the graph’s trust of information sources and businesses as part of the logic behind search.

In the process, Google will make search more personal and gaming the engine more difficult. To influence search results businesses and individuals will need to be socially engaged and pay more attention to customer service. Imagine what happens when Google uses not only the user’s question, but also the opinions of their social network to serve up results.  In that not to distant world of commerce, companies will need to pay closer attention to after-the-sale support, followed by promises made vs. promises kept on the sales side.

This move will not happen overnight as language can be very tricky as Brand Monitoring firms are learning. The algorithms used to determine to what degree an opinion is positive or negative struggle with our love of sarcasm.

How this plays out in the B2C market is much easier to gauge then in the B2B and B2G market where exposing opinions about partners can be seen as having a deleterious effect on future prospects.

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