Does shared content affect rankings?

[LaraMcCulloch]

I've noticed that when logged into Google, content shared by people within my social graph is being identified by a "(name of person) shared this". And, content shared by people not within my social graph (but people who have a Google+ account) is being identified with their picture.

My questions are:

• Is this "(name of person) shared this" content showing on first page of results because they're in my social graph. Or would this content have been on 1st page regardless of whether it had been shared?

• Why is google identifying who is sharing content when they're not in my social graph?

Thank you!

[RyanKent]

Is this "(name of person) shared this" content showing on first page of results because they're in my social graph. Or would this content have been on 1st page regardless of whether it had been shared?

The latest statement I heard from Google was the +1 data is being collect but is NOT being used to alter search results. They also made it clear that this data could be used in the future for that purpose.

Why is google identifying who is sharing content when they're not in my social graph?

There is a process from Google called Authorship where any content created by a known author can be identified with their picture. For example, do a search for Matt Cutts in Google and you will find the results which are authored by him recently from his blog show his picture. It is possible for him to author content elsewhere and it may or may not be identified with his picture depending on whether the publishing site used the proper tags.

I believe the pictures you are seeing are from Author identification, not from the Google +1 process. This is the current Google standard now.