Unlike Microsoft's , Google's Social Search uses your own lists of contacts from various services to build up a network, then features content specifically from the people whom you know. And, while it does include Twitter, it also includes FriendFeed, shared Google Reader stories, and other social content from around the Web.

Getting to Google Social Search

Google Social Search is currently considered part of Google Labs, so it's not enabled by default. To try it out, just visit Google's and click the button to "join the experiment."

(Note: Google Social Search is launching on Monday, so it may or may not be available to all users immediately. If you don't see the option on that page, try back again in a few hours.)

Once you've joined, you'll immediately start seeing social information at the bottom of your search result pages. You can also click on the "Show Options" text at the top left of the page -- or click on the "Results from people in your social circle" link at the bottom of the page -- to filter the results and see only the social information.