Google Social Search launched about 11 months ago and it has been popping into the normal search results for those who are socially active online.
Recently, I spotted a bug with how Google Social Search works. A Google Web Search Help thread reports that Google is mixing up the Twitter usernames with the Twitter user IDs.
What is the difference between a username and user ID on Twitter? For example, my username on Twitter is rustybrick but my ID on Twitter is 922011. How did I find my ID? As per the Twitter help documents, you can find your ID by going to your Twitter profile and clicking on the rss feed address of any Twitter page. The number just before the ".rss" suffix is your Twitter ID.
According to one person, his Twitter ID is 2995 but his profile username is not. When he searches his Google Social Search, Google seems to be bringing in the friends of the username 2995, as opposed to his friends, associated with his profile. Specifically, @bjornstar's Twitter ID is 2995 but for some reason the profile username @2995, which has a user ID of 16564164, is showing @2995's friends in @bjornstar's Google Social Search circle.
Got that?
Google's Jaime said in the Google Web Search Help thread that Google is "investigating why this is happening."
Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.
