Google News will soon start highlighting journalists' profiles in Google News. But rather than highlighting the profiles from their primary website/writing venue, Google will be highlighting their Google+ profiles. In a blog post today, Google showed an example of how the profiles will be featured within Google News. The journalist has to first have a Google account that's linked to their articles, and when that's the case, Google News will show the journalist's Google account profile photo along with information about his/her from Google+ -- how many followers and an "Add to circle [...]

Related Topics: Google: Accounts & Profiles | Google: Google+ | Google: News | Google: Rich Snippets

At the SMX Advanced Conference in Seattle last June, Google announced it was supporting the HTML5 “rel” attribute in anchor tags for the “author” and “me” variables. To me, this was very interesting news. I have been in the business of content development for a long time (stretching back deep into the 1990s), and Google’s announcement meant they were interested in tracking who was authoring what content. This makes sense, as Year 2011 for Google has been all about their multiple Panda algorithm updates, which favor higher quality content as a page ranking factor. If Google can [...]

Related Topics: Google: Accounts & Profiles | Google: Rich Snippets | Link Week

As we await for Google+ to figure out however it wants to handle verified accounts, it's worth reflecting how Google already has a verification system in place that's been lost and how Twitter's supposedly "closed" program continues on in stealth mode. Why can't either of these companies get it right? And why can't Facebook even try? Twitter & Verification Let's start with Twitter. Cast your mind back to June 2009. After growing complaints that it was hard to know who was real, including from celebrities tired of being impersonated, Twitter launched Verified Accounts. These accounts a [...]

Related Topics: Features: General | Google: +1 | Google: Accounts & Profiles | Google: Google+ | Top News | Twitter

Google has launched a new "Me On The Web" section within its Google Dashboard area, which seems designed to push more people toward creating Google Profiles, as well as create greater awareness of how things that leak out of Facebook and other social networks may end up on Google. The Facebook Factor Perhaps I'm reading too much into the feature. But I think it has to be taken in context with Facebook's recent accusations that Google has been somehow been secretly collecting information about people from Facebook and other social networks without their permission or their knowledge. Exami [...]

Related Topics: Features: Analysis | Google: +1 | Google: Accounts & Profiles | Google: Dashboard | Google: Social Search | Top News

2011 bonuses for Google employees are reportedly being tied to how well the company fares in its efforts to integrate social elements across Google products. That's according to two reports from Silicon Alley Insider -- reports that say the news first spread in a company-wide memo last Friday from co-founder (and now new CEO) Larry Page. There are also reports tonight that Page has promoted a half-dozen Google execs to new senior vice president roles; more on that below. SAI has published a screenshot that it says is an internal Google FAQ describing a "2011 Multiplier" affecting employe [...]

Related Topics: Features: Analysis | Google: Accounts & Profiles | Google: Employees | Google: Social Search | Top News