According to a posting at Search Engine News, Google CEO Eric Schmidt told PCForum attendees that Google would integrated the indexing of Orkut data into Google search results within the year. Schmidt said that Orkut and Google search complement each other as a means to allow searchers and users to connect directly with experts in the field of their searches. “One of the problems with search is you can’t find people,”Schmidt reportedly said. “We believe that these social networks will have a tremendous amount of information.”
Schmidt might have also mentioned the high CPMs Google should be able to charge for Ad Words search results that appear on such targeted results pages, and the strong “Google Juice” rankings that Orkut members may be able to enjoy. On the other hand, he might have also have mentioned how they dealingiing with the privacy issues that surfacing data from a members-only social network–or any social network, for that matter–will surface. Do I really want data about my Orkut relationships and groups available via Google? (Of course, I gave away all rights to everything when I signed the Orkut terms of use, but none the less…)
Will other social networks clamor to add their data to the Google mix…or run to competitors?