Known as Google Social Search, the service highlights content from a person's social circle at the bottom of search results that appear when entering terms on the site, without the need for a high website ranking.

 

Using the example of a person trying to find their friend's blog about New York, Google said that such a page would not show up on the first page of results without the feature turned on, noting that it is also possible to filter the findings so that only results from contacts in a person's social circle appear when entering search terms.

 

"The results are specific to you, so you need to be signed in to your Google Account to use Social Search," the firm explained, adding that contacts from Gmail will also be included, as well as findings from websites included in a person's Google Reader account.

 

Commenting on the move, deputy news editor of New Media Age Will Cooper said that it will help put the emphasis on creating "new and more exciting content".

 

"I think that will become more important," he remarked.