Everything you need to know about my feelings on Google’s latest update is summed up in this article: Google’s Social Search: The Tech Giant’s Disastrous Decision to Muck Up Its Search Results

For more than a decade, Google search wasn’t “social” in any way. When I searched for a new car or a European hotel or the best way to plunge a toilet, Google would give me results that reflected the collected view of all Web users. That worked really well!

Not once during those years did I get to a Google results page and lament that I couldn’t see my friends’ ideas about the car I should buy or the hotel I ought to book. While my friends are thoughtful and knowledgeable people, their views on the tens of thousands of large and small inquiries that I bring to Google every year are almost always irrelevant. When I’ve got a clogged toilet, I want advice from an expert—a plumber, preferably, but I’ll even take the stranger who wrote this eHow post. What I don’t want to know is which link my boss consulted when his toilet was clogged.

Or, to put this in my own words:

Just because an article, image, or blog post is popular does not mean that it’s accurate. Since when did Google believe everything was true on the internet?

Solution? Switch to Bing. Or, turn off Google’s social search. I’ve been very unhappy with many of Google’s latest changes because they don’t seem to do anything other than change the “look and feel.” In some cases, like with analytics, it’s pushed the design below-the-fold and requires MORE clicks to get to what I want. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

[Insert Life Bits Here.] This week, my life “bits” that you normally receive are on hold. (Get your mind out of the gutter…) I am away on business and, in anticipation of a thrilling but busy week, have written this post in advance. I’ll be back soon, though! Comments are moderated, but I’ll get to them when I can.