Archive for January, 2012

Every once in a while, I tend to spout my longer thoughts on my Google+.  And they make it to blog form here: 

I’m starting to see the problem with search.  I live in the Google ecosystem with Google+, Youtube, Gmail, and the rest.

In the past week, Google unveiled some new social search features that have me worried.  Maybe it’s who I follow, but I have this issue on Google+ where my feed is full of posts by social media luminaries like Guy Kawasaki, Chris Brogan, or Leo Laporte.  They often drown out the more localized “real people” I interact with, but thanks to the new slider tools, I’m able to handle this a little more effectively.

Now with these new search features, I notice a similar effect happening.  Instead of the usual results, I see a lot with familiar faces attached, often the same names I see in my overrun Google+ feed.

While I appreciate the the social integration, I’m worried about the fishbowl effect.  If I’m constantly being fed results from within the same circles I cultivated on purpose in my social stream, this lessens my chance of stepping outside of that box.

One of the most interesting is a random search we did on Wrestling Mayhem Show for Diamond Dallas Page’s Yoga for Regular Guys.  Even before I could find the official web site, I was greeted with no less than two posts by Chris Brogan.

It’s early in the new settings, and as with everything Google, it will change as they get feedback, but still, some early flags on how I search.

As I’ve detailed on here before, we’ve been continuing to do our Google Hangouts amongst the Mayhem Crew, and inviting others to join us.  We get some people drop in, but they haven’t been the greatest.  Here’s what transpired this past week.  NOTE: if there’s a term that we talk about you don’t know, DO NOT GOOGLE IT!  Trust me:

 Of course this is mainly when we do the Public ones for wrestling shows. Google Hangout was used to great effect when I wanted to corral the Wrestling Mayhem Show regulars to touch base on how the show was going and how we can reach out. The Hangout with Extras that’s been seeping our was great to share some outlines and other documents, and including people on the phone that had issues with their connection. Fast becoming a big utility for me. I’ve considered doing more business on Hangout as we go…