#LeWeb: Google+ to be updated with filtering mechanisms

Google plans to add filtering mechanisms to Google+ allowing users to receive more relevant social content as the company seeks to challenge rival Facebook.

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt said at the Le Web conference in Paris that "noise control" will soon be added to the social site, and that "we have a team figuring out how to do it right now".

There are currently few ways for Google+ users to receive specific content from their circles relating to a particular topic. Google does not second guess its users by promoting content it thinks they will find most interesting above the ongoing activity feed.

However, Schmidt argued that Google is in a good position to filter content for social network users, as essentially it is a "ranking company". He said in his view the filtering should be based on algorithms, which would promote certain content above others.

"For the average person this filtering would be seamless," said Schmidt. "But more technically sophisticated people would be able to manage their own filters."

Schmidt also spoke about how Google benefits from the information people share over the Google+ network. "For instance, we can use the information to better select YouTube videos for users," he said.

The executive also touched on Google's move into TV. Schmidt said that the majority of TVs will have Google TV embedded by the summer of 2012, although the firm has no plans to buy a TV hardware provider despite its recent move into the smartphone market with the purchase of Motorola Mobility.

Meanwhile, Facebook's European managing director, Joanna Shields, announced at Le Web that Facebook is to launch a plug-in Subscribe product for web sites which will be "an extension of the Facebook subscribe button".

At the moment, Facebook users can click on the subscribe button on someone's social network profile to get that person's public updates in their own news feed.

However, users will soon be able to subscribe to any web site in the same way, said Shields. The launch of the product is "imminent", she added.

Shields declined to comment on when Facebook will make an initial public offering.