What exactly do all those +1 buttons really do? Google first released the +1 button in June, and it quickly took the internet by storm. After using them for a little while people started to notice that clicking the button really didn’t do much of anything. Today Google has announced two new features that will not only make the +1 button more useful, but also give people a reason to click it.
The +1 button was so popular it even became more popular than Twitter’s Tweet button. Nothing would really happen when you clicked the button, even after the launch of Google+ which was disappointing. You are able to find what pages your contact have clicked, but that information wasn’t too easy to find. Pages that people would +1 would not show up on your homepage, and thus almost defeated the purpose for a user to click the button in the first place.
Over the next week or so Google will be rolling out two changes to the +1 button that will greatly change how we interact with it. Most importantly when you click on the +1 button you will be given the option to share that page with your circles. When clicked a drop down menu will appear and you will see a link to the page, picture, and a small blurb about the page.
The other feature is more tailored to web publishers, and it is called +snippets. When sharing pages with your circles the description of what you are sharing can be modified and changed. This will help publishers and users to help start conversations about stories being +1ed.
The two new features sound similar to how Facebook’s Like button works. When you click the button it allows you to share a story, include a picture, and add some text to the link. It is very nice to see these changes coming to the +1 button, even if they should have been included at the launch of the service.
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