3 Ways That Google Is Searching To Secure Its Future

Google is apparently poised to launch its own third-party Internet commenting platform in direct response to Facebook, which is increasingly being used as a commenting gateway on many sites. Meanwhile it's also moved to better promote its new consolidated app store "Play" and tie it to its social network Google+. Taken together, those don't look like the actions of a company that's centered on searching the Net and selling ads against such searches.

Several upcoming new features for Google were discussed at G-Saudi Arabia recently. Perhaps chief among these was the new commenting platform. It's thought that the platform will link deeply into Google's complex offering of online services--probably tapping search somewhere--and be linked to its Google+ social network. Google's also placing more emphasis on the rest of its stable of products by placing Play, its new aggregated app store "anti-iTunes" affair, into its new black top-bar on its webpages. That means Play is exposed to users if they're using Android devices or any one of Google's many web products. Another thing Google's said to be about to do, according to the same rumor, is roll out vanity URLs for Google+. This makes sense, given the increasing use of social networks as primary points of contact for netizens, is a move on from Google's initial mistake over Google+ handles, and marries up with the moves made by other social networks.