Manber said that Google's focus on improving the relevance and speed of core search is what keeps it one step ahead of
social, semantic and other non-core search innovators. "Last year we made over 450 improvements to the algorithm," Manber said.
And while Manber acknowledged that input from a searcher's closest friends might make a given search more accurate, it doesn't mean that social search needs to be a separate entity--"it folds naturally" into core search improvements.