After Google's Search Plus Your World sparked a number of heated debates last week, a group of engineers who claim to be from Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace has launched a website called Focus On The User. The site urges users to use a modified version of Google in which the search engine will perform a more objective vertical search. With vertical search, Google's search engine will show results that don't favor Google+ results.
The Focus On The User website employs a bookmarklet called "Don't Be Evil" that will enable them to use Google "good" version that will include content from social networks. It rehauls three portions of Search Plus Your World, namely: Google+ Sitelinks, Google+ Suggestions, and People & Pages Results.
Take a look on how different the results are:
Photo via Search Engine Land
If Facebook or Twitter aren't really threatened by the reach of Google's search engine, they'll just ignore what Google has in store for the social web. The Focus On The User site claims that they created the modified version of Google for the users. Obviously, the tool's name "Don't Be Evil", is Google's own mission to focus on creating tools for the users rather than focus on how Google will gain.
The engineers from other social networking sites who made this tool claims that Google's good version should be used. Why? Because they are aware that Google+ could eventually capture their piece of online advertising pie. While social media marketing is gaining momentum every year, a person will still use a search engine to find out more about a business. This is why Google is supercharging its engine with Google+'s social content to turn it into a social engine.
So who benefits from this "Don't Be Evil" tool? Is it really intended for users or simply to protect their own social platforms?