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`TECHNOLOGY
`
`Google Wants Search to Be More Social
`
`By AMIR EFRATI
`
`Updated March 31 , 2011 12:01 a.m. ET
`
`Google Inc. is offering to add a twist to Web searches , in a bold offensive to prevent Facebook Inc. and
`other social-networking companies from gaining an upper hand on Web innovation and potential advertising
`dollars .
`
`The Internet search giant said it would allow users to recommend useful search results to friends and
`potentially reorder the way sites are ranked based on what they and their friends like or find useful.
`
`The "social search" effort, dubbed "+1" or "plus one," could change the way that some people use Google's
`search engine.
`
`The move is striking since Google's search engine-based on an algorithm developed more than a decade
`ago by co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin -has propelled the company to be one of the world's
`most valuable tech concerns . It is the reason the millions of people turn to Google every day. Search ads
`related to the search engine still account for the vast majority of Google's nearly $30 billion in annual
`revenue.
`
`The "social search" move comes after Google has botched several attempts at creating a viable social(cid:173)
`networking service, including a previous effort dubbed Google Buzz. Indeed, on Wednesday, Google said
`it agreed to settle a complaint by the Federal Trade Commission over alleged privacy violations from when
`it launched Google Buzz, a social-networking service, more than a year ago. (See related article on page
`B2.)
`
`Google is now an incumbent in a fast-changing Web industry that has been disrupted by younger rivals
`such as Facebook and messaging service Twitter Inc. Those companies have gotten people to publicly
`and privately share information on the Web, including their favorite articles , videos, personal interests and
`whereabouts, and redefine how people discover news articles or get advice on where to shop or travel.
`
`Facebook in particular, with more than 600 million users worldwide, has amassed a wealth of personal
`information about members and now has a multibillion-dollar advertising business that lets marketers
`pinpoint specific demographic groups. Google views Facebook as a major future competitor in online
`advertising, people familiar with the matter said, and one of the aims of its social-networking efforts is to
`obtain similar data about users , rather than continuing to rely on information about them that is inferred from
`their Web searches.
`
`EXHIBIT 2084
`Face book, Inc. et al.
`v.
`Software Rights Archive, LLC
`CASE IPR2013-00479
`
`

`

`5/15/2014
`Facebook  declined  to  comment.
`
`Google to Add Features to Make Search More Social - WSJ.com
`
`"Recommendations  play  a  vital  role  in  our  decision-­making  process,"  said  Christian  Oestlien,  a  Google
`group  product  manager  for  search  ads.  "You  look  at  the  advice  of  people  you  know  and  trust."
`
`Google  and  Facebook,  which  long  operated  in  different  realms  on  the  Web,  increasingly  look  like  they  are
`on  a  collision  course.  Facebook  executives  have  explored  the  possibilities  of  using  their  unparalleled  social
`data  to  improve  Web  search,  but  found  building  out  a  general  search  engine  was  extremely  difficult,  said  a
`person  familiar  with  the  matter.  Last  year,  the  company  launched  a  partnership  with  Microsoft  Corp.  to  use
`Facebook  users'  social  signals—such  as  clicking  the  "Like"  button—to  improve  the  results  on  Bing.
`
`So  far,  Facebook  has  focused  its  own  search  product  on  finding  people  and  places  and  combing  through
`information  that  users  contribute  to  their  social  profiles.
`
`The  social  search  feature  won't  replace  Google's  traditional  search  results,  which  are  based  on  the
`mathematical  algorithm  that  attempts  to  rank  sites  based  on  how  relevant  they  are  to  a  user's  search
`query.
`
`But  the  "+1"  effort  allows  people  to  publicly  recommend  certain  websites  and  share  those  preferences  with
`their  contacts  on  Gmail  and  other  Google  services.  They  are  highlighted  in  search  results  for  relevant
`queries  that  are  typed  into  the  Google  search  box,  said  Matt  Cutts,  a  Google  search  engineer.
`
`As  with  Facebook's  "Like"  button,  Google  users  can  click  a  "+1"  button  on  the  search-­results  page  or  on  a
`site  that  installs  the  button  in  order  to  recommend  that  site  to  friends.
`
`Only  users  with  Google  accounts  who  are  "signed  in"  while  searching  will  be  able  to  see  changes  to  the
`search  results.
`
`One  of  the  eventual  aims  of  the  project  is  to  reorder  search  results  so  that  sites  that  users  find  more  useful
`appear  higher  in  results,  people  familiar  with  the  matter  said.
`
`The  social-­search  effort  makes  good  on  a  promise  by  Google's  outgoing  chief  executive,  Eric  Schmidt,
`who  last  fall  said  without  elaborating  that  the  company  would  be  adding  "social  layers"  atop  its  services.
`Co-­founder  Mr.  Page  takes  over  as  CEO  on  Monday.
`
`Google  has  been  adding  social  components  to  its  business.  In  November,  the  company  launched  Hotpot,
`which  attempts  to  create  a  social  network  around  local-­business  recommendations.  Google  also  plans  to
`infuse  other  services,  including  its  YouTube  video  site  and  Picasa  photo-­sharing  site,  among  others,  with
`their  social-­networking  contacts  so  users  could  more-­easily  share  content  with  friends,  people  familiar  with
`the  matter  said.
`
`Google  is  developing  a  way  to  connect  all  of  those  services  into  a  kind  of  social-­networking  service  that
`would  rival  Facebook,  people  familiar  with  the  matter  said.  Google  last  year  worked  on  creating  the
`infrastructure  needed  to  let  users  play  online  "social"  games,  such  as  those  made  by  Zynga  Inc.,  with  their
`contacts,  people  familiar  with  the  matter  have  said.  It's  unclear  whether  such  a  system,  which  already
`exists  on  Facebook,  will  materialize.
`
`The  effort  to  create  a  broad  social-­networking  service  using  key  Google  services  including  its  search
`engine  began  in  earnest  after  Buzz  flopped,  in  large  part  after  the  backlash  that  resulted  from  when  it  made
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`Google to Add Features to Make Search More Social - WSJ.com
`5/15/2014
`email  address  books  visible  to  other  people.
`
`Spokeswoman  Katie  Watson  said  Google  has  many  strengths,  including  the  most  popular  search  engine
`and  video  site,  but  acknowledged  that  "like  any  company,  we  have  challenges"  including  "how  to  build
`relationships,  sharing  and  identity  into  our  products  and  "how  to  stay  nimble  as  we  grow."
`
`But,  she  added,  because  of  "enormous"  opportunities  in  social  networking  and  other  areas,  "we  are
`investing  so  heavily  in  the  future."
`
`—Geoffrey  A.  Fowler  contributed  to  this  article.
`
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