





Google+, the search giant's new social network, has rolled out trending topics within Google+ Search.

Mashable has been informed that trending topics quietly rolled out Thursday night. Like Twitter's Trending Topics, the Google+ version lists 10 of the hottest and most popular discussion items on the social network. Clicking on a trending topic will launch a search query.

Google has also rolled out some additional improvements to Google+ Search. Google+ users can now search within just their own posts, their circles or the entire Google+ network. The search giant has also changed the layout of the search page with several UI tweaks. The company originally launched Google+ Search in September.

Trending topics helped make Twitter a more relevant metric of what the world was talking about at any given moment. Google has worked for years in the space, most notably with Google Trends and Hot Searches, but Google+ offers the search giant the ability to see what is truly trending in real time.

Perhaps it's Twitter, and not Facebook, that should be worried about Google+. We've reached out to Google for comment.

Update: Google has confirmed with Mashable that trending topics rolled out last night. Google+ Searches also now default to "most recent" rather than "best of".