One of the most counter-intuitive details about Google’s new social network is that you can’t actually search for public posts from it. Instead you have to use the clunky workaround “Yoursearch site:plus.google.com” or use one of the new search engines that have cropped up since its launch like Gplussearch or Google Plus Search Engine. The latter also has the added boon of searching Buzz and Reader posts.
But why not offer the feature on the platform itself? When I asked this question the other day on Google+, Google Product VP Bradley Horowitz humorously replied, “Thanks for the great suggestion! ;-)” because seriously what idiot thinks that search wasn’t the first thing Google thought of here?
When further pressed for when we would possibly see Search+, Horowitz said, “We’re in limited field trial… and making changes on a daily basis. Agree that we’re quickly accumulating enough data that search would be extremely useful. I don’t have an ETA on this feature, but agree it’s a great suggestion.”
Har har. According to one source familiar with the company Google will be offering an easier way to search Google+ and eventually adding Google + to its main search index (I have no idea whether Google+ will offer its own search widget on Google+ profiles but yeah, it would probably be handy). Apparently the theory is that Google wants to get Google+ search perfect before it unleashes it to a critical public. Commenter Joshua Gabaldon put it best, “Google may risk doing something poorly, but not search.”
So will we be seeing Search+ at Google+’s public launch or sooner, along with other Google+ product integrations like YouTube+ or Calendar+? My bet is yes — But in the meantime the service’s 10 million “field test” users have to make do with the odd and funny lack of a search feature. It still sort of bugs me.