Google’s been trying to bust further in to the social media market for years. Among its variably successful attempts have been Google Buzz – a social networking platform, the INQ Cloud Touch or “Facebook Phone” that runs on Google Android and massive developments to promote interaction within the YouTube community.
Now Google is going one step further and adding a +1 button to its search results. Much like the “Like” button of Facebook or the “Digg” button of Digg.com, the Google search result +1 button will alert your friends to web pages that you personally recommend.
If this takes off it won’t just be a handy tool for web surfers to find what they’re looking for more easily; this could prove to be an effective, easy and remarkably cheap way for Google to adjust its search engine’s result parameters.
Google has been having some trouble lately with link purchases. The New York Times even recently did a massive exposé highlighting the degree to with websites paying other sites to link back to their own is destroying Google’s credibility as a fair and accurate search engine. Adding a tool from which Google can receive direct feedback from its users could certainly help Google get back on track and repair its wounded reputation.
As yet Google’s plans are to show +1s from just the friends on your Google account such as chat buddies or Gmail contacts. Mention was made that soon Google “might” expand the +1 option to include your friends from sites like Twitter, although the “F” word was conspicuously absent (*cough* Facebook).
Only making the option available to people with Google accounts does seem pretty limited. But, like we said, Google have been trying to get a Social Media foothold for some time now. This may be a catalyst for a rise in Google SM subscribers. Or it could turn out to be a terrible idea and die before it even gets its shoes on.
We’d love to know your thoughts. Do you think this move by Google will be helpful to you? Would you prefer Google to expand the ability to see the +1s of Facebook and Twitter friends as well, or do you doubt that you’d ever even end up using this functionality?
Source: Official Google Blog
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