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March 30, 2011

Google +1

Google +1 is yet another attempt to make Google more social. It's Google's version of the Facebook "likes", a simple feature that's very powerful because it's part of a social network.

Google will show +1 buttons next to all search results and ads, while encouraging other sites to include the buttons. All +1's are public and they're tied to Google Profiles. The goal is to use this data to personalize search results and ads by recommending sites +1'd by your friends. Google Social Search already does this, but there's no support for Facebook likes, so Google had to come up with a substitute.

"+1 is the digital shorthand for 'this is pretty cool.' To recommend something, all you have to do is click +1 on a webpage or ad you find useful. These +1's will then start appearing in Google's search results," explains Google.


This feature is slowly rolled out to Google.com, but you can try it by enabling the +1 search experiment.


One thing is clear: Google won't have to translate "+1" when it will localize the service, but it will have a hard time translating "+1's", "+1'd" and other cryptic constructs. Google +1's URLs already look weird (here's the homepage: http://www.google.com/+1).

Your +1's are listed in a profile tab, where you can manage them. There's also a page that lets you disable personalizing Google ads using +1's and other information from your Google profile.

Google now has the most important pieces of a social network (profiles, activity stream, likes, apps), but there's still no social network, no magic "glue" that connects the existing pieces. As Danny Sullivan explains, the "+1 social network" is made up of your Google Talk friends, the people from Gmail's "My contacts" group and the people you follow in Google Reader and Google Buzz, but you'll soon be able to connect other services like Twitter and Flickr. It's actually a meta social network, an artificial service that won't have too many enthusiastic users, just like Friend Connect.

66 comments:

  1. What a useless, pointless waste of time. Bring back bookmark stars instead. If you want to add this social rubbish add facebook likes. People use facebook because it works and because everyones on it. In the same way they use google to search. Get you act together please

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  2. I think fb really needs competition. At the same time I think only G can compete with them. So I'm cool with it. It sounds kinda cool to plus smth

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  3. @Anonymous... Um... You can still star your Google Bookmarks, they never took that away. And what qualifications do you have to tell Google to "get you[r] act together"? There are more Google users than Facebook, and even though Google's social network isn't nearly as robust as Facebook's, why not have a Social aspect to searching? This will definitely enhance the search experience if it is used properly.

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  4. Ha! This is so not what people were hoping Google +1 would be. I don't think I'll be using this.

    WikiSearch, +1, what's next?

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  5. If you allow me, I do not like it. People don't like facebook because the "like" button but because it is a stream of news,videos,photos,etc right for you, by the people you know. You don't need to look everyhere else because it is right there for you. Everyone have the trouble and pleasure to "send" the cool things for you.

    Also, I totally dislike the fact of one more thing to distract me from results. Searching is a lot more private than sharing an youtube video on FB.

    At least follow youtube syntax for the shake of consistency. like/dislike

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  6. Unfortunately, anyone using Google Apps is out of luck as Profiles are not enabled.

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  7. So this google +1

    So WTF is Emerald sea and Google Me I wonder.

    It seems like they are seperate code names for seperate projects after all instead of evolving products names to keep the media guesting.

    I think Goolge may have made a mistake, they should have integrated it more with Google BUZZ, unless I missed that bit.

    An anyway this sorts of acts as a star book mark anyway, one you plus 1 a link it will stay under +1 one tab in google profiles. In some ways it might be better.
    I wonder if Google will scrap it bookmark service in the future. You can keep the +1 tab private to.

    Hopefully Google will make some way to search your +1s, and get around to link Buzz, as I say would not it be great to comment on your +1 ones.
    Just saying.

    But you can see from the design of the +1 pages they are design from the outset to be integrated profiles.

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  8. 'like' is good in facebook, 'follow' is good in twitter, ...

    -- tx
    postimg.com

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  9. Facebook is soooo buggy! I hope Google wins this fight.

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  10. @anonymous People like Facebook because huge sections of their social circle use it. The application itself is horribly imperfect.

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  11. +1 should come to google apps, this might be significant there

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  12. I like Google, but +1 will be useless...

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  13. wow so now many people will start sell +1 services like they do with the facebook likes and fan.
    Useless thing

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  14. *nods* is kinda ok. it's nice to have something like this back, though it could do with a bookmarklet for working from other sites, like google bookmarks and reader have & the code is a bit confusing looking so don't think i can quickly make one :-/

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  15. i hope will be continous with +2, +3, +4, +...
    hihihi
    Beben Koben si bloglang anu ganteng kalem tea \m/

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  16. A - We trust our close, social network more than strangers. It's a fact

    B - We need to get better overview on relevant information on www

    C - We need to percieve informantion in better ways than linear lists of links

    D - We need to represent information in newer ways, non-linear and non-article based ways (text, visual, sound)

    E - We need to personalize search in new ways - based on what hat I've put on for the search occation.

    F - Where the hat decide what's relevant for me - and gives me suggesting hits, more than ranked on "linkedness". Context!

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  17. <> NO, NO, NO, NO! I don't want Google turning into Facebook. There's a reason I don't have a Facebook or Twitter account!

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  18. it's like google bookmarks feature, but this fell into our google profile right?

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  19. I actually think the +1 button is a +1 news :)

    In long term Google will be able to extend the social factor importance of domains in their search algorthms, which might help a lot with getting rid of spammy search results.

    Facebook did show another aspect of the web to people, however the FB platform is very limited in various aspects.
    As internet (and social) user I welcome the +1 button and will use it gladly.

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  20. I still don't seem to have the +1 tab on my profile. why is that?

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  21. When this system will be launched?

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  22. I think of Google +1 as a social-sharing assisted search that would use the "+1"s as an additional heuristic. More importantly, unlike other social sharing services such as Reddit, Twitter and even Facebook, which tend to overwhelm the reader with links shared by friends – most of which may not even be interesting to the reader; I imagine that Google +1 would be more subtle and useful, showing you the links “liked” by your friends only when you’re searching for it.

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  23. I click on the "Learn more about the +1 button and personalization on sites across the web." from the +1 page, and there is nothing there... Any ETA?

    http://www.google.com/support/profiles/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1047397&p=sign_up_about_plusones

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  24. This is a good move by Google. Instead of building an FB-clone to take on FB head-to-head, they are going about this subtly. This is the more Googley way of doing things.

    Google already has a much better and bigger social graph than FB. And, they already have web properties that bring a lot of eye balls. So, they don't need an FB-clone. They are focusing with laser-like precision on the one aspect of social media that is most missing from their vast databases: people's conscious or deliberate likes. “Conscious or deliberate” is the key phrase here. From search words and from indexing the vast Internet (including Twitter & GMail), Google already knows about people's interests and their conversations. The only thing Google doesn't know is about things a person would deliberately and actively like or recommend. It would have been stupid and overkill for them to build an FB-clone to know this single piece of information. +1 is all that is needed.

    The biggest challenge for Google is getting people to actually use +1. Unless prompted or encouraged in some clever way (subtle or obvious), the majority of online users are notorious for being lurkers who won't post a comment or click a button. The reason FB and Twitter saw such explosive growth is that they both created a peer pressure / peer encouragement situation for people to sign-up and engage with their friends on these services. I am not able to see +1 creating similar peer pressure / peer encouragement among groups of people. With that key element missing, I’m afraid +1 may not be very successful.

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  25. Not a good idea! Search is like cleaning, everybody does it but we dont need to tell our friends about it. Are we going to +1 how to fix the toilet or good action movies. The stuff I share is the things no one search for like that cute movie on YouTube.

    Hey Google, wake up! Facebook exist!

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  26. The key is to create a online "home" for people. Facebook has gone about this all the right way.

    How can Google win this fight? Bring Google Reader, News, Mail and blogging into this space. The biggest mistake was to kill Wave! The service needed to be simplified but not killed off. How bad is the situation? If Facebook partners with Apple to bring social search within apps and Facebook, Google could soon find themself on the curb.

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  27. But we created Buzz within that kind of space, Gmail, Google might say but Buzz was a social privacy disaster! Social is about sharing stuff to two different groups. Your friends and family (Facebook). The public (Twitter). Can or should we mix these groups. The answer is no!

    The same reason why I dont use Facebooks email service or Buzz is that I dont want to mix my social community with my personal information. No one use Google profiles and therefor social in Google reader is the lame duck. Create a hotspot for our online habits but let people decide how personal they want to be. One might way to create a group called Milkyway highway project that will let people collaborate on documents in Google Docs or sharing mail within Gmail or plan a meeting in Google Calender.

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  28. Disclaimer: This is a joke!

    "I got a letter today from my rentlord. It was a letter telling me that the rent will be higher next year. Stamped on the front side of the envelope was.. Xx recommends this service provider using +1?"

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  29. AS

    That element may be missing that why they need to force people to use a other way, and the way I think google is going to do that is to integrate all of it's services behind the scene by getting them all to use Google profile for starters.


    Anonymous said...

    How can Google win this fight? Bring Google Reader, News, Mail and blogging into this space. The biggest mistake was to kill Wave! The service needed to be simplified but not killed off. How bad is the situation? If Facebook partners with Apple to bring social search within apps and Facebook, Google could soon find themself on the curb.

    Agreed, but I do not think Wave is dead, I think Google are themselves trying to figure out a way to use it in a more integrated manner. What this may be I do not know, but I think they be fools to scrap it altogether even the brand name is pretty good through tainted now I suppose.

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  30. The concept is very good. Facebook provides 'like' where we can see from which profile the 'like' comes. But in Google I can't see, may be later it will be implemented. And the most important thing I want to say that Facebook allows 'like' without or with comments. So in Facebook I can create fake profile and then can like. But if Google implement this +1 approach with one comment compulsory then it will show more unique and genuine. Hence with the quality of comments Google can allow to show higher rank.

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  31. The biggest problem is the name. "+1" is not a globally sensitive name, it's global nonsense. I can make sense of "liking" something. I can make sense of clicking a link that says, "good" for example. But "plus one'ing"??? Nice try Google, but if no one gets it, no one uses it. DOA.

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  32. Good luck on overthrowing the king of social networks(fb). If anyone can do it GOOGLE can.

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  33. But where are the -1 or thumbs-down or not-allowed buttons. As a Google searcher, I want a button to prevent a site from ever appearing in my search results again. In other words I would really like a don't-like button.

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  34. What concerns me the most is if this latest change will affect SERPs completely. And if it does, Google just made one big trouble in their algo in my opinion.

    But if this +1 will only answer to Facebook like button then I guess it will be just fine.

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  35. I can't use +1 because it wants me to change my screenname...and I don't want to.

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  36. FB what a waste of our precious time... people are addicted to meaningless status updates…
    +1 will be better then “Like” at least it will be available to everyone and not only to the so called 500m active users… FB users get a life.

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  37. +1 is a good start... It is just the beginning. Google's individual services are far superior to FaceBook's services, Google is just lacking the glue that ties them all together... A *way* more in depth view of what it will take to get Google Social... http://goo.gl/DorKv

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  38. It's kind of like the yellow smiley face/blue sad face from ages ago

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  39. What is this all about? You only click on something because your 'friends' like it?

    Duh!

    Try the new thing called ' thinking for yourself'.

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  40. I like the ability to +1 a site/page. But I feel handicapped at not being able to -1. C'mon give us a +/-1 option :)

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  41. I am liking Google +1 so far... but just like many commenters here said, it is somewhat useless without -1.

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  42. Plus One Should Be Best Because Facebook Is Now For Only Kids!!!! Google Formed It!!!!

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  43. Its another move of google in search results for gmail users to be focused more on those with this +1 thing because in search kick eyes inside and move from pages which does not have installed +1. I have installed this thing but is not Ok regarding others. 85% of searches comes now from google and google want to take all what is possible to take . Some kind of facebook is for sure on the way. I hate FB and Twitter and all the other social time loosers.

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  44. Since the "likes" and "followers" can be easily manipulated this was inevitable. in order for google to have more granular control over social status it needed to develop it's own system.

    my articles will provide a more in-depth analysis.
    http://www.purpleturtleproductions.ca/news

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  45. A -1 button is a bad idea as it leaves websites open to social attacks. I.E a group, or competing company, to all go to a website to leave -1's. This will have a much more detrimental effect on search results, then that same group just +1 their own site.

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  46. I have personally put +1 on my site now, looks rather good and have removed the facebook like link, as I feel no good having both.

    Now for the people saying this feature is useless without a -1 are wrong.

    The whole point of +1 is to give similar people to you, relevant helpful content. That is it, pure and simple. Now if there are 3 sites on making chocolate cookies, and I +1 one of them and not the other 2, my friend will see the one I liked, and being friends or family there is a high chance they will like also what I saw, result.

    Now where does -1 help in this, if I see the same 3 sites and I -1, -1, and +1 the one I like, my friend is still going to see the one I like anyway, -1 is pointless in the way Google is setting this up or so I think anyway. I think it's great and does not need a -1 button. Not to mention silly site competitors running campaigns to -1 all your things, would be a mess and would be silly.

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  47. Google+ invitation on sell on ebay

    http://cgi.ebay.com/Google-Google-Invite-plus-invitation-/170661993072?pt=Tickets_Experiences&hash=item27bc3f5a70

    What a idea google make for money.

    Google+ Google + Invite plus invitation
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    All users please suggest google to make some more idea's for make money and make fool all users who relay on google for its innovations.

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  48. Google should provide -1,-2,-3 etc for fake sites..............

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  49. This is very nice stuff. This is a very good step to give competition to FB.

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  50. I think..it is waste of time...no need

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  51. Have put +1 buttons on my site , and have removed the facebook like button. So far no-one has +1'd my website while i usually get 50 fb likes a day..i hope people start using google at the moment its pathetic.

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  52. @Laurence That's a great idea! I would use that button a lot

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  53. Just like friendster, death of FB is coming soon with google+1

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  54. How Lame!!.. Sorry I'm Not +1'ing it.. I'm LIKING IT!.. ) (not the Google +1) lol

    Cody Powell

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  55. What is this and what am i meant to do with it? Can i just ramble on and on pretending to be fair and reasoned while spewing my own personal brand of poison like Fox so called "news"?

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  56. Google +1 button is going to expand as more and more people get use to using it. Google also rewards the site when then button is pressed as it is like a scoring system.

    Now as a site owner you get rewarded when visitors press your Google +1 button. Now wouldn't it be good if you could reward and encourage the visitor to click your button?

    Well you can if you are using a wordpress site and know where to look for it. Just down a plug-in that can reward and redirect to an affiliate product if you wish.

    I would call that a win win situation wouldn't you?

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  57. when will google+1 officially launched in asia? thanks for info

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  58. I am on Google+ and +1'd many items but they don't show up on my +1 tab.

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  59. Hackers use this. I found it on my phone bill

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  60. Don't know when chrome will again get that +1 button.

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  61. http://i.imgbox.com/aaoahstK.jpg

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  62. I don't find the google plus button is very effective

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