+1, the Next Social Media Craze?

Google just launched a new project, a social network called, +1. For those of you who don’t have the “411” on this new form of social networking, basically it’s similar to Facebook’s “like” button, but it’s geared toward web searches rather than what some one is doing. Like any other social site, you need to have an account with Google to be able to participate in +1ing anything. Once you have an account, your +1’s are shared with your immediate network of contacts. Who are your contacts? They are the people in your gmail and google talk chat list, people in your “contacts” group in Google Contacts, and people you follow in Google Reader or Google Buzz. Right now, this feature is only available in web searches, but in coming months you will be able to add this feature to your website, web ads or blog. These +1 recommendations will help sites stand out by showing the most personally relevant information which in turn can help with your website’s ranking.

The word on the street seems to be that people think sites will not actually be ranked for their quality but for their quantity, the +1 button will be used by spammers, and that this feature is just about competing with Facebook and has no actual value. On the other hand, there’s another train of thought that says the complete opposite, that business professionals and enthusiasts will take advantage of this services, it’s a great marketing tool that generates great media credibility, and that Google has a pretty good handle on controlling spam. Google has already launched a social media site called “Google Buzz” which turned out to