Google takes another crack at social networking with +1
Posted By RichC on March 30, 2011
The next big Google thing?
Not wanting to fall too far behind leading social sharing sites (primarily Facebook), Google is rolling out it’s new socially connected experiment they are calling “+1.” The new “+1” button is an opt-in service and will permit socially connected users to give their stamp of approval to a search results, therefore helping friends “find the best stuff.”
Not unlike the Facebook “Like” button, the Google “+1” button will keep a log of your favorite finds on Google and then use them to gauge the content that you’ll receive on the search page – and obvious plus for Google is for ad placement. The changes to the algorithm that Google uses is also suppose to reduce the “cluttery” on a user’s search results and help them hone in on quality results. According to Google, their goal “is to get you the most relevant results as quickly as possible.”
The opt-in page explains: "Your +1’s are public. They can appear in Google search results, on ads, and sites across the Web. You’ll always be able to see your own +1’s in a new tab on your Google Profile, and if you want, you can share this tab with the world." If this sounds a little like Delicious to you, you’re not alone, although remember Google has been experimenting with "social stuff" for awhile with the likes of Wave and Buzz.
According to tech news sites, Google admittedly considered buying Digg too, a user voting service that ranked popular links, but the talks fell through – Digg has since languished. With Google’s “+1” there isn’t a Digg-like central repository for the most popular links. There isn’t a list of how many people have given each result a seal of approval, only that one of your Google contacts has given a +1 to a link. Who know’s what Google is collecting behind the scenes?
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