It's a google world and we're just here for the ride...

On October 21, 2009 Google announced a partnership had been reached with Twitter that would incorporate twitter tweets into their search results. Twitter had earlier announced a similar arrangement with Bing.com. The idea was that there were times, such as the Michael Jackson debacle, where the gap in time between things happening and when they were reported on (and thereby disseminated on blogs, websites, news, print) was, in essence, taking too long. So Google will be able to provide indexing and searching in 'real time'. Just another step in a world where things just don't happen fast enough.

The announcement came during the same presentation where Google announced a Beta program that would allow for 'social searching'. Again, Microsoft had announced a similar program for searching social sites like Facebook in order to search your network of friends.

A techcrunch.com post says "This is a new feature that allows you to see results for queries from people in your social network. This works by using your Google Profile. If you fill it out with the other social networks you’re a member of, such as FriendFeed, Google will scan who you are connected to and give your results from those people." So whether you are trying to make a decision on where to eat, or what to buy, you are just a click away from real time testimonials (and critiques).

This pretty groundbreaking stuff, but hey it's only Monday. The larger issue for small business advertising is this represents just another example of how consumers look to one another for more information than just celebrity (and personal) gossip and cool YouTube videos. It is just another example where consumers trust their friends more than advertising. While word of mouth has always been the best form of advertising, now it is easier for consumers to share the story with hundreds, if not thousands, of friends and family.

No longer can you and your advertising control the message. It makes it more important than ever to control what you can - the quality of the product or service, and the relationship that you have with your customers.