Google has a listening problem: report

Peter Dinham
Thursday, 12 January 2012 16:18

IT Industry - Market

Google's announcement that it will start featuring results from Google Plus in search results as part of Google Social Search has drawn criticism and a suggestion that the search giant is not listening to how its users perceive change.

In a brief report just published by Ovum, the firm's chief telecoms analyst, Jan Dawson, acknowledges that the move by Google is a logical way of raising the visibility of Google Plus still further across its properties.

In a sting in the tail, however, Dawson says that this is another decision which 'threatens to further narrow the definition of evil in Google's famous motto, 'don't be evil' for a couple of reasons. 'In itself the move is not surprising since Google has already taken a number of steps to promote Google Plus including a redesigned top bar that follows a user across Google sites."

According to Dawson, the Google decision also risks further accusations that the company is unfairly cross promoting its own services over those of others. 'Secondly, it risks crowding users' search results with items they may find less relevant, negatively impacting Google's core value proposition.'

In a parting shot at the search engine, Ovum says the Google Plus decision is another example of Google's 'occasional bouts of tone deafness about how users will perceive changes.'