facebook’s social search is coming - watch out google | gigaom

I keep being surprised at how little attention the shift toward social search is receiving. if you want a recommendation on getting a rebuilt transmission, where do you go? you might not know that a work associate or cousin had a great (or terrible) experience with xyz transmission. google doesn't know. but facebook does. and you are more likely to pay attention to someone you know than anonymous recommendations:
Like Facebook, Google knows that search is moving from keywords and links to providing answers for users to questions such as “Where should I eat?” and “Who can repair my car the best?” That’s why the company has been spending so much time and effort adding expert information from places like Wikipedia and from its own sources like Zagat. But that isn’t social data, and while there has been plenty of debate about the ultimate value of social recommendations, there’s no question that Facebook has a far better grasp of that than Google. And unless Facebook and Twitter choose to change their blockade of the search engine, it is likely to stay that way.
via gigaom.com click through to read the full article. it's worth it