The Google +1 Button and What It Means to Social Engagement

Recently Google launched its much awaited feature called +1 (Plus One) Button which is intended to integrate social with search. Google has been struggling a lot in the social space since a long time whether it be Orkut, Wave or Buzz. But it seems to be that Google has now arrived in the social space with this new arm in their kitty. Here's the official introductory video of +1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAyUNI3_V2c&feature=player_embedded

At its core +1 is meant to counter facebook like button which has engulfed the web like a wildfire. Now the beauty of +1 is say one person +1s ('Plus Ones': my verb for pressing +1 button) a certain blog post or content on some website, other persons who are connected to him/her on gmail will see that content among the top organic google search results on front page while searching for a related keyword. One necessity for +1ing is to be logged into your gmail account & your friends will see the relevant results when there are also logged into their respective gmail accounts.

So, in a nutshell, +1 is a feature which is not intrusive like buzz and at the same time it is highly beneficial by providing relevant searches to information seekers all around the world. Google is a Big Daddy of search business & now by introducing this social feature into search it has made it more enjoyable & worthy.

What do you think of +1 button? How can it change the search business?