subject: Google Co-Op - Social Web [print this page] Google Co-op was announced by Google, along with other announcements, in May of 2006. Google Co-op represents Google's efforts to embrace social web and social search concepts in a major way to help improve Google search results. Google Co-op will allow users to contribute context, knowledge, and expertise. In essence, Google Co-op allows users to tell Google what web content really is by providing labels (categories) for that content. Users will also get to "vote" on what content they find to be valuable by subscribing to the content of various web sites that they value. An additional benefit to end-users is that Google Co-op allows them, through their subscriptions, to alter their own Google search results so that the provided information better meets their needs. It further helps end-users to filter out spam content, or content of little or marginal value.
Google Co-op is currently in beta test. As with any new service that is being beta tested, there are still some things being "worked out". The documentation is somewhat limited and lacking, making it a little difficult to understand and implement Google Co-op. The remainder of this paper will provide a high-level overview of Google Co-op to help individuals better understand what it is, how they can use it, and what they will see. Subsequent papers on the topic will delve more into the "nitty-gritty" of how to implement it.
At its most basic, "social web" (aka Web 2.0) is a process whereby users provide information and opinions, and share them with others. It is the sharing that provides the social aspect. Users can share information about what they find to be valuable. A good example of this is del.icio.us where users share links to their "favorite" information on the web (for example, favorite articles, or web sites about a topic etc.). Other examples of "user-vetted", or user-contributed information, would include Wikipedia (the open, user contributed, encyclopedia), and DMOZ (the open directory). There are many other examples.
