Tag: social networking

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Will You “Like” Google’s +1?

Last week Google rolled out their latest attempt at social networking… Google +1, considered to be a competitor to Facebook’s “like” button.

Google has built a reputation for dominating search engines, but has not had the same success when it comes to developing social relationships online. Remember Google Buzz and Wave? Yeah, neither do we!

So would we recommend Google +1 to our clients as the latest and greatest social media application? Probably not… but that’s not to say that the application doesn’t have its benefits. So we’ve compiled a list of what we feel are the pros and cons of Google +1. You can get a good idea of the platform’s functionality and decide for yourself if you will adapt Google +1 as part of your social media strategy.

 

PROS

  • Google +1 provides yet another way for people to publicly share information about your company, products, services or industry with the world.
  • The +1 button helps you and others receive personalized content from Google and other non-Google sites.
  • Google will show +1 buttons next to all search results and ads, while encouraging other non-Google sites to add the +1 button.
  • Google says that SOON you will be able to connect with other platforms like Twitter and Flickr.

CONS

  • Say goodbye to your privacy (once again): In order to use the Google +1 button, you need to have a public Google Profile visible to the world.
  • You must be logged into your public Google Profile in order to +1 content; You must also be logged in to see content that others have +1’d appear in your search results.
  • You can only share +1 content with your Google Talk friends (your Gmail contacts) and the people you follow in Google Reader and Google Buzz.
  • Google says the new application does NOT enhance SEO but they are “very interested” in incorporating it at some point.

 

Google +1 is currently available only to those that are interested in “experimenting” with the new application. It will not be rolled out to the masses for another few months. What are your thoughts? Do you see Google +1 taking off?