HotPot Integrated Search Results Go Mainstream

Afew months ago Google released their review engine - Google HotPot, which allows you to review and rate services quickly and easily. The reviews are then used to recommend similar services to you and your friends based on your tastes as well as theirs.

This month Google has decided to integrate HotPot's Reviews into their regular search results. Now when you search for restaurants or other services in Google, any relevant places your friends have rated or reviewed, along with the ones recommended to you by Google will show up based on your own ratings. Their name and even their picture will be displayed as well.

While it seems like an interesting idea. The idea of whether Google is attempting to answer a question no one asked seems to surface. Many wonder what the point of having a place online where your closest circle of 6 friends all rate the same 5 restaurants seems to be a waste of time more than an actual resource or reference.

Though there is potential in larger cities where one might never find all of the great restaurants hiding around. We wonder if maybe Google knows this service will fail on its own so they decided to integrate it into their search results to keep it alive. In addition to the integration, Google has been creating aggressive advertising campaigns in major cities around the US to promote HotPot.