(via NYTimes.com) Google Plus may not be much of a competitor to Facebook as a social network, but it is central to Google’s future — a lens that allows the company to peer more broadly into people’s digital life, and to gather an ever-richer trove of the personal information that advertisers covet. Some analysts even say that Google understands more about people’s social activity than Facebook does.

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Plus is now so important to Google that the company requires people to sign up to use some Google services, like commenting on YouTube…The value of Plus has only increased in the last year, as search advertising, Google’s main source of profits, has slowed. At the same time, advertising based on the kind of information gleaned from what people talk about, do and share online, rather than simply what they search for, has become more important.

Continue reading story on NYTimes.com: The Plus in Google Plus? It’s Mostly for Google