It makes sense that social links and signals are of high value now days. Firstly most social links are not permanent. This would require constant social engagement every day to create a constant flow of inbound social links. Google would value this since you cannot just place a link forever and leave it at that.
Secondly in todays world, social media networking is massive. There are millions of people using social media platforms today. People respond better to a 'friends' recommendation of a website or product as opposed to other reviews available online. This means that a social link is much more valuable since it is most likely a valued review by a genuine person, not link spammed 2 years ago.
I hope this makes sense.
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