Google Plus One (For Manipulation Purposes Only)

It’s been on the news, it’s been widely debated, and in the social world, it’s one of the hottest topics on the web. The bonuses of Google employees depend on it, webmasters are scrambling to get it featured on their site, and its experimental features are still being determined. Without a doubt it’s too early to make any clear determination on its success rate, but if you honestly think Google’s Plus One (+1) can equal the Facebook Like button (or any social button for that matter), you are poorly mistaken.

Why can’t this button compete? First of all, it’s a social feature in a nonsocial environment. Google is a search engine dedicated to help any and all internet users find what they are looking for, and they do a pretty damn good job at it. Most people who use Google honestly don’t have a Gmail account, which is the closest way to making their search results personal. But for those who have a Gmail account, usually they are only connected to other people through email, and maybe 10 to 20% of them take it to the next step and explore all of Google’s tools and features. So, we can decide that this is not a social environment to connect to friends and colleagues through, yet Google is attempting to implement a highly social feature. The reason the Facebook Like button is so widely renown is because it was born in a social environment, in which friends are connected and personal information is shared in a very casual environment, almost never work related. This is what made the button so popular, and this explains why the Google +1 doesn’t stand a chance.

It’s been two months now since the announcement, a sufficient time to see at least some progress of this new feature, yet the numbers aren’t showing it. Google itself only recently broke 4,000 +1’s, and the largest number I have seen of any website is Mashable at just above 5,000. From the top 10,000 most visited websites only 2.5% of them feature the +1 button,  and only 1.55% of the top 100,000 feature it (Source).

Ever since the announcement stating the button will influence search rankings, I have decided that the only use of the button so far is for manipulation purposes. Although I have no numbers to back me up, I feel as if the only times this button is being put to use is by SEOs and those of the same interest – in boosting their site in the SERPs. If you are one of these people, I would say keep chugging and taking advantage of this, because it seems Google will be stubborn in making sure this is a success. Trust me, I get why they are doing this, it makes since – the only real opponent they have in the future is social search engines, which Facebook could launch at any time they please. I just don’t like how Google jumped from one end of the spectrum to the other without thinking of the consequences. They should have taken smaller steps to make Google more social, and then release the button in order for it to have any of the quality search effects it was made for.

Do you think Google Plus One (+1) is going to be a failure? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below, I want to hear what my readers have to say.

UPDATE: I posted this a few days before Google+ was announced. Don’t I look like such an idiot? Well, I at least feel like one…