Knol, Google Wave, Renewable Energy cheaper than Coal (RE<C), Google Friend Connect, Google Gears, Google Search Timeline and Google Bookmarks Lists will be shut down permanently over the next three months.

The products didn’t quite take off as Google had hoped and are therefore being shut down, in Google’s own words, with the aim “to build a simpler, more intuitive, truly beautiful Google user experience.”

A lot of the engineering resources at Google seem to be redirected towards making Plus a hit. A host of new features are seemingly added to the new social network each month. One of these new features is an advanced search option, allowing users to filter search results by author and to browse through the currently trending topics at that point in time.

Similar to Twitter, the trending topics on Google+ show users what are the most popular topics at the moment, and allow them to dive into conversations related tot hose topics.

Google+ search along with trending topics

Now, when a user carries out a search, the trending topics will be displayed in a column on the right side of the page. Users click on any of the trending topics to conduct a search for that topic, which again is very similar to the functionality in Twitter.

Users can also narrow down the search results by using the filters provided at the top of the page, to narrow the content by type – everything, Google+ posts, people and pages or Sparks – and the content source – everyone, circles or self. At present, these tools are available only after a search has been conducted. However, it has been reported by The Next Web that users are asking for the trends results to be added to the main page on Google+.

Another interesting feature that has been spotted recently is the integration of Google+ with Google Places. A number of local searches now show the listing accompanied by the profile image that has been pulled from Google+. When users click on this logo, they are taken to a Google search results page that lists the Google+ Page and provides the user the option to directly add that Page directly to their Circles.

Google+ profiles featured in Google Places search results

This is yet another service that the search giant has integrated with Google+. Even though the network has been criticized for its lack of activity, the developers seems to be determined to make it succeed by placing it in front of users of all other Google services till they eventually wear down and decide to use it!

Although the Web can be considered as an encyclopedia of information on various subjects, there is still a lot of information that has not yet been put online. There are lots of people who possess knowledge on various subjects that cannot be found online, and this information could be of great help to other people all over the world.

Through Knol, Google intends to encourage people to write on subjects that they have a good knowledge of, and thus disseminate this information and help millions of people.

Every Knol will be authored by a person (or a group of persons) who have expertise in that field. The name of the authors will be attached to the Knol. Obviously, it is expected that there will be several Knols on each subject, thus providing more information and differing view points to the users.

Authors on any given subject will be able to work together with each other through a method called ‘moderated collaboration’. Readers will be able to make suggestions on the Knol, but authors will have the right to accept or reject suggestions as per their wishes.

Knols will make it possible for authors and readers to interact with each other through the use of tools such as comments, ratings and reviews. The author will also have the option to choose to display ads from Google AdSense. If he does include an ad with his Knol, Google will pay him a certain percentage of the proceeds accrued from that ad placement.

Google has also made an arrangement with New Yorker magazine, by which authors will be able to include one cartoon per Knol, from the entire cartoon collection of the New Yorker. It is expected that this could be a very effective way for an author to make a point.

In some ways Google Knol will be similar to Wikipedia, Hubpages and any other collaborative online encyclopedia where people contribute information to the site. However, Google will be giving due credit to the authors and may even share advertising revenues with authors, which is not the case with Wikipedia. Thus it is possible, that those who had so far contributed to Wikipedia may be tempted to turn to Google in future.

It is also possible that in future Google may promote these Knols on their search results pages, where it currently features sites like Wikipedia, which may not be a very ethical thing to do.

Google Knol will function take the form of a knowledge base where anyone and everyone can contribute informative articles on any topic. Authoring tools will be provided by Google. Other users will be able to comment, suggest edits and also add advertisements if the author approves. This would guarantee authors the opportuntiy to earn ad based revenues.

Knol will also give due recognition to its contributors that Wikipedia denies them. This combined with the lure of monetary benefits through the ads posted on individual pages might attract new authors and draw contributors away from Wikipedia.

However, the lack of an editorial policy on Knol might work against it, as we have already seen to be the case with Wikipedia where inaccurate, biased and promotional information is frequently posted by self-proclaimed pundits and unscrupulous corporations.

It is also quite strange to see Google promoting its own content. This could mean that Google will no more be on neutral grounds when it comes to showing search results; they will probably push their own content to the top of the list. A bias could potentially infiltrate its way into Google’s search results which will not be good news for other content publishers.

Even though the idea may sound far fetched right now, the possibility that one day “search and find” operations might just be restricted to Google pages only is not altogether impossible! At least that’s what Google seems to be aiming for – an absolute monopoly of the Internet!

The image below shows a screenshot of a “Knol”. Click on it to view the full article.