Does Google have a direct link with facebook and twitter?

[PhotoGazza]

Google monitor social media.  What I'm wondering is do Google use the same tools we have on Facebook's API, Twitter's API etc to use in their SERPs

Or do Facebook grant Google more detailed access to see who has liked links etc.

I think it's quite an interesting point as surely I can push up my own count by repeatedly sharing my own links, which wouldn't be genuine.

If Google had better access they could then determine what's been faked etc.

[AlanBleiweiss]

Actually neither Facebook nor Twitter grant Google direct access.  Relationships/partnerships were attempted but the efforts broke down.  That's why Google came out with Google+.  They know how important social media is to their desire to improve search results (and get more money from AdWords and other Google revenue channels.  So they decided - if we can't get direct access, we'll just create (and artificially force) our own.

They do make use of whatever they can get from all social platforms that public.  they just don't have the depth of access they would prefer.

As for what's being faked, that's part of why they want full control and access, both.  Yet I'm sure they're working on how to figure it out best they can with Twitter - facebook is nearly impossible though without that inside access.