The explanatory copy reads:

Use the +1 button to publicly show what you like, agree with, or recommend on the web. The +1 button can appear in a variety of places, both on Google and on sites across the web. For example, you might see a +1 button for a Google search result, Google ad, or next to an article you’re reading on your favorite news site. Your +1’s and your social connections also help improve the content you see in Google Search.

Hmm, sounds familiar…

Google’s +1 competes directly with the Facebook like button, in that it serves as a signal for determining what content appeals to a certain individual. Google, as the world’s largest search engine, integrated the product immediately. Since the mega-site accounts for over half of incoming traffic on many sites, publishers had a marked interest in implementing +1. The question is, aside from Google’s touting of the product, is it actually that great?

First of all, at its most basic, it’s hard to argue that “+1” is a great name. How awkward is it to tell someone, “Yeah, I totally just +1’d that page; check it out!” It just doesn’t flow that smoothly. “Liking” something, on the other hand, comes pretty naturally to most of us.

Furthermore, when you +1 something, the +1 button will turn blue and the +1 will be added to the +1′s tab of your profile. Meaning, anyone who wants to participate in +1’ing has to create a Google profile as a sort of basecamp. There, you can manage all your +1’s.

Whether or not you choose to make your +1’s public through sharing, they will be visible to others viewing the content. Meaning, you really shouldn’t +1 something you wouldn’t want your boss to stumble across, because your name could appear next to the +1 to help your friends and contacts identify which content may be most useful to them. +1’ing is a public action, and although one would wonder why you’d “like” or “+1” something you wouldn’t want others to see, this visibility aspect is nonetheless an irritating one.

Google’s goal is clear; they want to be bigger players on the social media field, and who better to steal plays from than Facebook? Google will need to be markedly aggressive in order to implement +1, which started off as an experimental feature. However, they don’t exactly have a great track record in the world of social media; i.e. Buzz. What Google does have going for them is influence, but as we’ve seen with other social media failures, influence can only carry a brand so far if their product fails to deliver.

So, is +1 for you? Let us know in the comments!

Everyone is Sharing Location Based Information

This year, Twitter, Foursquare, Loopt, Gowalla, Google and Facebook will all make it easier for people to share real-time, location based information and post location-aware updates.

This past December, on Christmas day Facebook was the most trafficked web site in the United States. Now it wants all of it’s users to become more open. Altering the default settings on millions of people’s status updates, in the hopes of making more Facebook updates public and searchable.

Get Ready for Location-Aware Status Updates

Sometime later this year Facebook will start to implement opt-in location-aware status updates. Knowing where your Facebook friends are having lunch or going for a run is a just as important, if not more so, than knowing that they’re doing it. So in much the same way that Foursquare shows you check-ins from friends and people checked in at events, Facebook will provide context around status updates in the wild, but on a much broader scale.

The social element of this voluntary disclosure allows marketers to tap into an engaged network of users and offer special promotions based on reported location. We expect FourSquare and other apps with a hybrid location/social-networking component to grow significantly in 2010.

Geo-Targeted Marketing

As the number of GPS-enabled devices continues to rise, expect to see a variety of innovative marketing solutions created to facilitate geo-targeting (i.e. in-aisle, in-store or in-proximity) and automated direct-marketing campaigns that are pushed to consumers with GPS-enabled mobile devices.

Business Will Capitalize on Location-Based Services

With the growth of location-based services and mobile apps, business now has the chance to minutely target consumers.

Of course this explosion of location based information will no doubt lead to main stream media stories of location-sharing gone wrong and will be used as cautionary tales for those who live their lives too openly. But once people begin to understand the value of connecting through location, more and more local business will capitalize on location-based services on social networks and mobile devices.