Google Powers Up The +1

Google has increased the significance of the ‘+1’ button on Google+, changing its function so that more +1’d posts feature in the Google+ stream.

Before, a +1 would only inform the content’s publisher which users appreciated what they had posted, consequentially appearing in these users’ streams. If a user wanted to draw a friend’s attention to a particular post, they had to share it with them.

Users were only notified about a friend’s +1 via an ‘activity update’, which would provide them with the most basic details of a post. Now, if a user +1s a post, it might appear in the Google+ streams of other users in their circles.

The changes to the +1 make it even more similar to the Facebook ‘Like’, a tool which can help posts get ranked in the news feeds of a user’s friends. however, Google has not released information concerning how a +1, or a share for that matter, will affect a posts chance of appearing in a friend’s stream. In the announcement post, Google’s Shimrit Ben-Yair says that Google+ will “occasionally highlight posts that were +1'd by people in [a user’s] circles”, which, I’m sure you’ll agree, is very vague, giving no indication which +1’d posts will be highlighted and why. In fact, the wording almost suggests that the process will be entirely random.

I’m not suggesting that Google be completely transparent about their post ranking software (that would be ridiculous), or even that they release an EdgeRank-like algorithm onto the web, but it would be useful to know how much both +1s and shares are taken into account, and if they are taken into account together. For example, will a friend’s article shared publicly have more significance than an article they have +1’d, or vice versa? The only way to find out, I suppose, is to experiment.

Despite Google’s secretiveness, the new and improved +1 button will undoubtedly help users get their articles and posts more views on Google+. The more streams a post appears in, the more likely it is to be seen and clicked on, gaining the user who posted it a wider audience.

Users can still control who sees the posts they +1 by changing their account settings, but if they decide not to, only their friends who have permission to see their +1’d posts will see them, just in a new place. Users can also filter the +1’d posts they see in their stream, so if a friend or a circle are a bit scattergun with their +1s they can alter their settings so any content said friends do +1 doesn’t appear in their stream – learn more about how to do this here.

What do you think of the new +1 button?