Google +1 hit the press yesterday and many are wondering whether Google can get a truly social product off the ground. However, the product announcement is more of an invitation to join an experiment rather than a Google-wide launch.
The success of Google +1 really is in our hands. Here is a summary of the fundamentals:
1. It's just a voting button for search results pages.
In line with Google's latest social strategy, Google +1 is a social layer for search results pages, rather than a proper social network.
2. Everyone needs a Google Profile to use it.
Yet, it sort of is a social network because it can only be used by users with a public Google profile. Anyone who uses any Google products, already has a Google Profile, but it has to be upgraded to be made public.
Strictly speaking Google +1 is not a social network. At this stage it is more like a collaborative set of tools for users of Google products.
However, pay attention because, the bad news is that regardless of whether you want to use Google +1 or not, all Google Profiles will go public or be deleted July 31.
3. +1's are shared publicly, but can be undone.
Anything you +1 gets shared publicly with your 'social circles'. This means that people you are directly connected to will see, where relevant, what content you +1 and anyone visiting your public profile will also see everything you +1.
However, any +1 you make can be undone, both in the search engine results pages and in your public Google Profile. The +1 tab in your profile can also be made private - but it is important to note that it just hides the aggregated view of what you personally vote up, not the +1's themselves.
In all cases, anything you +1 is public in the Google search results pages unless you manually undo it.
4. Your 'social circle' will see your +1's.
Who gets to see what you +1 is defined by your social circle. Essentially your social circle is dictated by the Google products you use and any web apps that you use that use Google Profiles authentication (similar to Facebook Connect or Login with Twitter).
You can manage who can see your +1 activity via your profile dashboard - you need to scroll down to the "Social Circle and Content" section. There you can edit your social connections and your social content connections. The former is who you know in your Gmail contacts book and the latter is services you are connected to using Google Profile authentication (e.g. Blogger, Youtube and external services such as Quora).
It is worth noting that the social graph of Google +1 is exactly the same as the social graph of the fated Google Buzz.
5. You will see total +1 counts for sites you are not socially connected to.
Although personally identifiable +1's will only be shown to people you know, you will also see general counts for URLs in the search engine results pages (SERPs) which have received many +1's. This will be display is the same way as the 'shared by' counts which appear in universally targeted Google News results.
6. Paid search ads can be +1'd.
One fairly unique feature of Google +1 is that ads can receive votes. In effect, this means users can bookmark ads. Social buttons in search ads would mean social clicks could potentially turn into earned media (which in turn impacts social networks). Could +1 be the 'killer app' for Google's Pay-per-click business?
SEW expert, Alex Cohen, posed these questions on how +1 buttons might affect paid search campaigns to Jim Prosser, Manager, Global Communications & Public Affairs at Google:
How will +1 on ads impact Quality Score?
+1 does not change how we calculate Quality Score. As always, we look at an ad's performance relative to that of other ads for the same query, position, and UI treatment. However, while advertiser performance will of course vary, we believe that +1's may increase CTR, which would positively affect high quality ads.
Will advertisers ever be able to opt-out of it?
The +1 button and personalized annotations are the default experiences for all signed-in Google.com users searching in US English. If advertiser
10+ Points About Google +1
