Girls In Tech

Are you still a little reluctant or curious about Google’s announcement this past week regarding their newly launched ‘+1,’  a feature that allows users to recommend web content and ads to others in a similar manner to Facebook’s “Like” button?

Well, if you are, you would absolutely not be alone…

Google’s official company announcement left many questions still unanswered. Two of the greatest, most concerning  ones are: 1) how will this now affect user privacy (something Google and others, like Facebook, have been battling with on a daily basis);  and 2) how will this impact the interactive and digital advertising industries, alike?

(Click to see Google explaining '+1' )

To share his opinion on the Google +1 announcement, digital media entrepreneur Dale Carr, CEO of LeadBolt, ( a leading online advertising agency, with a content locking gateway and web monetization platform) recently had this to say:

“Brilliant in concept (although admittedly very similar to the Facebook ‘like’ button), it aims to harness the power of social conscience through what I like to call “Social Generated Content”. There is no better way of aggregating user behavior than through freely volunteered actions and user recommendations. The way Google wishes to use it though suffers from the same difficulties they have with ranking search results – the desire for unscrupulous parties trying to ‘game’ the system in a way to make certain recommendations appear more popular than they should (similar to the click fraud issues they struggle with in their ad sense program). Add to that the fact that realistically users who click on ads and are satisfied with the web page they land on are not inclined to click the back button to ‘rate’ an ad or search result. If it was a negative experience they would be more likely to give feedback.”

“All in all, the hurdles +1 needs to overcome before it can become a trusted popularity rating mechanism are many, and the attempt by Google to meter, analyze, and collect data on every click and then tie it to a personalized account and indeed have this shared amongst other users poses the age old problem of data privacy. Whether +1 can rise above the challenges first presented remains to be seen.” — Dale Carr

That’s Google’s ‘+1,’ one opinion of it.  I say, why not? — The more information I can get from my online friends about links and products, the better.  It is not like they have a Michelin or a 5-Star rating.  Consumers will know what kind of weight to give it.  And if the privacy issues are a concern, one can simply not use the feature.

• What do you think of  the new Google +1?  Like it or dislike it?

• Do you think there is room or an already obvious place for Google in the social web environment?

(Note:  The opinions above are those of Mr. Carr, the author, not necessarily of Girls in Tech.)