Google rolled out Google+ to get a piece of the social action. Social action simply means - to a search engine brain - that instead of figuring out what the person probably wants and what is of interest (using TrustRank and PageRank and other indicators) they can KNOW what people like, because they are watching what people are sharing on any given topic. If people are all crazy about a certain picture of giraffes, that picture will make a searcher happy. And that is what Google ultimately wants; a happy user. A satisfied user is a repeat user, and that means advertising revenue, if your name starts with G and you come from Mountain View.

In addition, through Social they know your tastes and styles, and can then tailor your search results to something you would like. Your personalized search results will make you even happier with Google.

I suspect that this is not quite all. In fact it is the least of it. What is really going on is this: Google will try to algorithmitisize Social Media results. They will look at the results the normal searches return and the results that Social Media indicate. Then they will produce an algorithm that will reproduce the results Social Media returns, and as the data keeps pouring in through the G+ portal, the machines at Google keep learning from them and fine-tuning their algorithm. Ongoing machine learning, and ongoing optimization of returns.

So the social is being used, but in a way that will allow Google to extrapolate their results to new subjects, things that weren't even discussed on G+. This multiplies the power of Social from being a (single-factor amongst many) direct influence on search to becoming the search engines mentor, the actual real-life test and benchmark of the algorithm. So Social will influence everything, for every query and for all users, even those who don't even exist on the Social Media scene.

This brainwave is still new in my mind, and I haven't yet thought out its ramifications. One thing however seems clear so far; For two specific objectives you do need to be active on the Social networks; 1. Social may be a source of direct traffic, and 2. Social is being used to personalize search. For those things I really cannot see a way around being active on Social Media.

However in the long race, the far marathon of establishing relevancy, you may not need to be very present on Social (although it may be a general ranking factor; if you are big enough to count, and a normal person, you probably are around on Social. It is part of the general profile of a successful firm.) Social will indicate the signals that relevant returns possess, and they will not necessarily be Social Media ones. Probably the portion of the Social Media signals in the mix will be actually small. The things that count are the ones that always have, and always will.

This is something I'd like to remind myself of next time I feel the itch to algo-chase.

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Check out my blog too at http://www.giftkards4kids.org/blog Interesting stuff there!