Google today launched an experiment called "+1," a small button alongside links in search results that it says users can click "to give something your public stamp of approval, so friends, contacts, and others can find the best stuff when they search."
In other words, it's the company's answer to Facebook's ubiquitous Like button. It'll keep a log of your favorite discoveries on Google, and (almost more importantly) use that to customize what sorts of ads you see. It's also a way for the company to get a better gauge on the quality of content when it seems like search engine results are famously clogged with results from "content farms"--publishers that are better at figuring out how to rank high on Google and its ilk than at offering up relevant content.
Google has, for the past few months, been countering the rise of "content farms" by making some highly publicized changes to its search algorithm. The +1 experiment is less explicitly directed at this threat of cluttery search results, but Google still underscores that it hopes it will make search results more "relevant."
More: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20048886-36.html
............................................................................................
In other words, it's the company's answer to Facebook's ubiquitous Like button. It'll keep a log of your favorite discoveries on Google, and (almost more importantly) use that to customize what sorts of ads you see. It's also a way for the company to get a better gauge on the quality of content when it seems like search engine results are famously clogged with results from "content farms"--publishers that are better at figuring out how to rank high on Google and its ilk than at offering up relevant content.
Google has, for the past few months, been countering the rise of "content farms" by making some highly publicized changes to its search algorithm. The +1 experiment is less explicitly directed at this threat of cluttery search results, but Google still underscores that it hopes it will make search results more "relevant."
More: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20048886-36.html
