Well, I suppose that I'd best say something about the latest innovation from Big G; the +1 button. I'll start with their video that tells us all about it.
I keep repeating to myself 'I want to like this, I want to like this, I want to...' but it hasn't worked yet. The trouble is of course that I'm saying 'I want to like this'. I'm not saying 'I want to plus one this'. They're obviously trying the same trick that Facebook has had out forever now, and I don't see it working. Yet again Google is trying to play catch up with stuff that other people have done, and have done better than they can.
Look at it from a search perspective. One of the basic rules, in fact, THE basic rule is of search is disambiguity. You're onto a winner if a word/term/phrase/name can only mean one thing. Moreover, you're especially up on the game if it can only be spelled in one way, so that any possible search just comes straight to you. So how is that going to work with this product? Now, granted that a search for Google +1 works. However, try it on YouTube. It doesn't work. Their own product doesn't understand what I'm looking for. I have to do a search for google plus one. Trying the same search on their own video search option doesn't work either. It doesn't work in Books or Shopping either. However, it does in Places! So the usual search inconsistency is alive and well, as per usual.
The second problem that arises for me is who is actually going to see what I'm +1ing? (Even trying it as a verb doesn't work!) I know who is in my social network at Facebook, Slideshare, Delicious and all the rest of them. They're there because I want them there. Who is in my social network at Google. I know a few of them, as I see them pop up in some searches, but otherwise, I have no idea - and I'll bet that you don't either. Do you even know how to find out? If you don't, I'm not surprised, as it's not obvious. Google doesn't tell you in the blog post about +1 which would be helpful. Well, I'll tell you. It's people who you have contacted on Gmail, Google Buzz, Google Reader. It's also friends OF friends. So this could easily be people that you've never heard of. What's that you say? You want to remove them? Nope, can't do that. You have to remove the initial contact in order to get rid of some of the people that you've never heard of. This is supposed to be SOCIAL?
Anyway, back to the question in hand. In order to find out who is in your social network, you need to go to your Google dashboard (presuming of course that you have a Google account) and scroll down to your contacts section. Alternatively go to Google Contacts and you may need to log in to see this. Or go here to take a look: http://www.google.com/s2/search/social#socialcircle (I am in the debt of the fine people over at Pandia Search for this last one) If you see people there you don't recognise, don't be surprised. If you see the same person several times, don't be surprised. If you didn't know any of that was there, don't be surprised. How about people who are not there that you would expect to be? People you follow on Twitter, or Facebook for example? Not happening, not now and who knows when in the future. I can't see Facebook giving away their own advantage to help their major competitor, can you? So, I say again, this is supposed to be SOCIAL?
Again, it's worth repeating, that if you +1 something, not only the friends that you didn't know you had will see it, the friends that they don't know that they've got will also see it. In what world is this helpful? Looking at it the other way around, I end up seeing a +1 recommendation from some person I don't know at all. Basically, it's as close to random members of the public as I'm going to get. Moreover, what's to stop people creating social networks to +1up their own site? Doesn't Google think we've got ENOUGH problems with spam as it is? This is just opening up a whole new can of worms.
I've said it plenty of times before, and I'm saying it again. Google doesn't understand social. They have absolutely no clue as to how it works, how to use it, or how to work with it. If Google has a downfall at any time in the future, this is what's going to cause it. Orkut, Google Wave, Google Buzz, and now this latest mess.
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