(Image source: www.norebbo.com)

BY BLAKE HANSON

Google’s latest attempts to know its users better than Facebook might have reached too far, according to one Internet privacy watchdog group. The concern is over Google’s new “Search Plus Your World” feature, which incorporates Google Plus posts into search results. The LA Times describes what the group’s miffed about...
(Video: Google)

“Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said his group is considering filing a letter with the FTC... [C]ritics contend Google, a laggard in social networking, is using its dominance in Internet search to favor its own products and take on its chief competitor.”

The Electronic Privacy Information Center -- also known as EPIC -- is the same group whose complaint in 2010 required Google to submit to independent audits of its privacy practices. Google says it attempted to include Twitter in its search results, but Twitter didn’t like the offer. eWeek reports...

“...Twitter...was one of the most vocal critics of the service. The microblog, which reportedly wanted more money than Google would pay to index Twitter's fire hose of tweets, complained that its tweets would not be as accessible as they were before with Google giving priority to Google+ content in personalized results.”

Slate writer Farhad Manjoo offers some harsh criticism for the change...

“Google just broke its search engine... How does new-and-not-improved Google work? I just searched for ‘Mitt Romney New Hampshire’, and among my results were a handful of posts and images that my friends and colleagues shared via Google+.”

So what do people think? A survey from “Ask Your Target Market” found most aren’t fans.

“A survey conducted by AYTM Market Research found that 39 percent of respondents believe Search, plus Your World ‘seems like a good idea,’ while 45 percent said they did not like the idea of their social activity factoring into search results.”
(Source: Brafton)

If you want to check it out for yourself, Google away. “Search Plus Your World” is active now.