13 October 2011 | Author: N. Hamilton Media copywriter

Google takes real-time search (and Eric Schmidt) to Google+

Google may have looked as though it was already firing on all social cylinders with the launch of Facebook-rival Google+, it's +1 button and an improved Google+ app for mobile.

But Mountain View's taking its social initiative even further by bring real-time search (and former boss man Eric Schmidt) to Google+.

According to CNet.com, Eric Schmidt joined Google+ just as the firm added real-time search to the social network, which gives users the functionality to watch a live feed of Google+ activity around a searched-for subject.

The update also integrates Twitter-like hashtags to make it easier for users to search for interesting content feeds.

In an official Google blog post, Vic Gundotra, the senior vice president of Google+, explained that users would now benefit from real-time search and improved hashtag support, which should allow them to better follow breaking news, sporting events and similar interest items on Google+.

Even though the development has widely been tipped as a natural progression (search is Google's core business after all) and an extension of Google's September social search updates, some tech pundits have speculated that the move has been designed to specifically hurt both Facebook and Twitter.

It could be a prescient dig at the social duo, especially as Facebook streamed its first football match this year and as Twitter established itself as a go-to breaking-news source following the assassination of Osama Bin Laden.

Both real-time search and improved hashtag support are to be rolled out across Google+ gradually, according to Gundotra.

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