There was a bit of interesting news last week from Google--it seems that the search engine is going even more social (building on changes it made in 2009):
According to the company, "... social search results will now be mixed throughout your results based on their relevance (in the past they only appeared at the bottom). This means you'll start seeing more from people like co-workers and friends, with annotations below the results they've shared or created."
(Read the complete post on the Official Google Blog.)
This is interesting news for any job seeker who has an online presence--that is, almost all seekers (even those who aren't looking for a new job now but might someday). With these changes, a professional contact you're connected to on LinkedIn (or an acquaintance you interact with on Twitter) is likelier to come across your shared or blogged content in his or her searches.
Say a recruiter in your network is planning a trip to Paris and searches Google for Paris restaurants. If you've written a blog post on that topic, your post could be a top result.
According to the New York Times' Bits blog, "Google will also let you know if a friend of yours has shared a particular link on the Web. This is a big change, because before, Google would only highlight material that acquaintances actually created." (Read the complete Bits post.)
This is good news for people who are trying to establish and maintain a strong personal brand online. If you produce and share a lot of great content, it's likelier to have a wider audience. (Read "What Is a Personal Brand, and How Do I Get One" for tips on broadening your online footprint.)
It also means that the line between "personal" and "professional" on the Web continues to blur for all of us. Once we put something on line, in any fashion, there's really no telling who will see it--we have to assume that it may pop onto the screen of a future hiring manager or recruiter.
What do you think about this change to the way Google works? How are you establishing or revamping your online persona? Let us know in the Comments section.
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I don't feel like this should change things significantly. If you've already wrote a blog post on a topic that someone else in your professional network is searching for, it'll just be more likely that it will appear. Nothing prevented that blog post from showing up in the past.
The same takeaway that applied in the past is still true - keep your online presence professional. Your future employer could be looking!
Lewis, ImpactInterview.com
Posted by: Impact Interview | Feb 23, 2011 11:47:45 PMI find this article very interesting. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Truly that t he social media is now getting wider and more informative. It'll be an immense help for all online job-seekers.
Posted by: How to Change My Name | Feb 24, 2011 5:47:32 AM
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