Google Knowledge Graph Finally Displays Social Media Results Other Than Google+

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Finally, after years of controversy over a decision to promote Google+ in search results, Google has displayed other social networks in its Knowledge Graph search result.

The multinational search engine corporation is now showing results from various social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and others. The Knowledge Graph panel on a search for “U2″ has shown links to the band’s profiles on Facebook, Twitter and Myspace, along with Google properties like YouTube and Google+.

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The social links don’t appear in all Knowledge Graph panels, and different social sites will show up for different Knowledge Graph results. Searching for “Starbucks”, for instance, will only see the company’s recent Google+ posts. The inclusion of other social sites in Knowledge Graph may not seem like a big deal, yet it brings back memories of a huge controversy from a couple years ago.

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In the past, Google was accused of favouring its own content ahead of potentially better results. One famous example was that Google would show a link to Mark Zuckerberg’s dormant Google+ account rather than his active Facebook profile. This move seemingly helped Google at least in the short term when stars like Lady Gaga — who already had millions of fans and followers on Facebook and Twitter — suddenly joined Google+.

The mentioned controversy has long since died down, still Google continues to face accusations that it favors its own content in search results. Adding links to Facebook, Twitter and other social sites in the Knowledge Graph might help Google deflect some of those charges in the future.