Search Engine Giant Google’s tussle with Social Media Network Facebook continues with its new ‘+1’ feature which goes global today, says a report by Zdnet.
The +1 button tool has already been available on Google search pages in the United States for the past few months and on individual websites for several weeks. This feature will now be extended to google.co.uk, google.de, google.jp and google.fr. Other international versions of Google with the +1 feature will follow later, though the search engine hasn’t revealed a timeline just yet.
“It’s not just Google search pages that will be getting the +1 treatment. Plenty of foreign-based news and multimedia sites will also implement Google’s favoring feature, including Spain’s El País, The Australian and TechCrunch Japan,” says the report.
The +1 feature allows website owners to optimize their sites and works in a manner similar to the ‘Like’ button on Facebook.
A Techi.Com report explains, “In Facebook,the page-owner who receives ‘Like’ from other members would gain in popularity. The more users’ press the page’s ‘Like’ button, the more likeable the page would be. More importantly, Facebook pages would be more popular if they connect themselves to more relevant pages or numbers.”
Continuing, the report says, “Taking this idea, Google designed the +1 feature to allow users to do what Facebook users can do. Google’s +1 lets users recommend articles, products, fashion items, anything under the Internet sun, with just one click. Then, the next time people in your social networks search, they will see your +1’s in their search results.”
According to the company, once the web publishers place +1 on their sites, they will be able to ‘upvote’ results which approve their relevance. Google improved +1 by expanding the functionality that lets users vote organically to the pages of those websites.
Techi.com is of the opinion that this does not reveal the true motive of Google in formulating the +1 functionality. It says, “ Many assumed that Google’s step in releasing +1 is one of the giant search engine’s strategy to throw more exciting search popularity contest among many webmasters on cyber space, or something similar. But Google has its own opinion that the effort is done is just to make +1 more relevant.
To ensure that the plan works as planned, Google has built partnerships with a few major websites which will include the +1 button on their web pages. A few of the websites are Best Buy, Reuters, The Huffington Post, Bloomberg and Mashable.
There could also be further motives to the +1 functionality. Many webmasters will have it as an alternative to raise sales through social sharing of their products. The company has also invited webmasters to go to Google’s +1 webmaster site to give their opinions and assistance by placing the button on their sites.
Google has given more functionality to +1 and offered it to users whose websites are in English-language. The details of when users can access the functionality is not available, but the company has highlighted that users should log into the account to make it visible in the search engine page results.
Developers and webmasters, Stateside as well as abroad, who are interested in adding the +1 button to their websites can utilize Google’s online guide. The liking feature is supported in 44 languages.