Google has announced new additions to Gmail this week that will help it better integrate with the Google+ social network.
Full list of the tweaks (via Cnet):
This is the second time Google has tweaked Gmail this month. Two weeks ago the company upgraded the Google+ notifications in the email service, making it easier to add people to your circles directly from the desktop.
Quick access to contact details
When you search for an e-mail address [in Gmail], the search results will now show you contact details in addition to that person's [Google] profile photo [if he or she has one] and the e-mails sent from and to them. From here, you can start a chat, call their phone and more. Plus, if your contacts have a Google+ profile, this information will stay up to date automatically. You can get to these same results in a variety of ways including from the people widget, contacts, and the chat list search menu.
Improved circle integration and circle search
In addition to adding contact details to search results, we've made some improvements to the [Google+] circles integration announced in December. When you select a circle, you'll now see profile photos of people in that circle at the top right of the page. Plus, when you click on these images you'll be taken directly to search results with contact details.
Circles are also now supported in search and filters. Find messages from a specific circle by typing circle:[circle name] in the search box. You can also find mail from any of your circled contacts by searching with has:circle. You can refine your search even further with other criteria and create filters based on circles. This means you can now view all the unread e-mails from your "Friends" circle or automatically star every message that comes from your "VIP" circle.
This is the second time Google has tweaked Gmail this month. Two weeks ago the company upgraded the Google+ notifications in the email service, making it easier to add people to your circles directly from the desktop.
