Google Hotpot; will it work?

Have you ever searched in the internet for a bar or a restaurant and the comments or feedback that is given about that particular place or business is from people that you have never heard of. Who are these people? They could be fake or just made up people. Perhaps you did a Google search for a hotel, after choosing a hotel from the results list the ad also contained comments about the hotel from recent guests – can you trust these comments?

According to Google, this is all going to change. The reviews that are left are only from people that you know and can trust, this is called Google Hotpot.

Google Hotpot was announced in November and is designed to share comments and recommendations with your friends. The process begins by rating the places that you have been to, then adding your friends that would make accurate comments and opinions about the places that they have been to. So, you will then log into the Google HotPot and you want an Indian restaurant in town, assuming that a friend has been and commented about their visit to the same restaurant, you will also see that comment and make a decision to go to it or not.

Since then, Google have advanced the system again. When you are logged into your Google Account and you perform a search, if any of your friends have made comments you can choose to only see those results in the results list. Perfect – feedback on a venue, event or perhaps a local bar from a friend not some unknown person, but will it work in the real word against the likes of Facebook or MySpace.

The plan is that Google will use this method to develop a sharing network that will be included in to the Google search.  Could this be the beginnings of a social network? They already have Buzz which is still on the launch pad compared to Facebook, but will HotPot be joining Buzz with a similar disappointing outcome.

The fact that a proper comment is then on the search is really good. This will prevent fake messages and clear the comment sections for only the right content.

Despite this there are pages on Facebook for most Businesses and Places that you can ‘like’ and receive regular updates about. So how will the Google Hotpot fair, or is this a crafty way to mix social networking with its established search engine?