14 DAY TRIAL // Being a Google product, the fact that Google+ launched without a search feature was quite a surprise and quite disappointing for most people. Of course, at first, there wasn't much to search for, but that changed very fast.
Thankfully, Google+ now has a search feature, one that is getting constant updates. Very recently, it went real-time, enabling users to keep up with the discussion as it happened, Twitter style.
Now that Google+ Pages have launched, a couple more tweaks have been made to the real-time search feature. Even more interesting is the new Trends panel on the search results page.
This is a very recent addition and not a very visible one at that. The Trends section only shows up after you search for something, at least for now.
As with similar features, Twitter's Trending Topics are the obvious inspiration, the Trends section displays the most popular things on Google+ at the moment.
It's unclear though whether the trends are based on searches or on things people are talking about. Most likely it's the latter, but Google does offer a trends tool for its search engine and the Trends panel is only displayed when searching for something on the social network.
Whatever the case, it's a very interesting addition, one that brings it one step closer to Twitter. If successful, it should keep people spending more time on the site while, on the other hand, encourage more users to get involved in the conversation, knowing that their posts will be easier to discover by Google+ users.
Speaking of the search page, the real-time search feature has also gotten a few small tweaks. There are now filters for both where to search, posts, people and pages, or sparks, and from whom to surface results, everyone, your circles or your own posts.