back to article Google rolls its Facebook mimic onto rest of web

Google has rolled its Facebook-mimicking "+1" button onto third-party websites. Mountain View debuted the button on its own search engine this past March, describing it as a way for Google users to recommend search results to other users. The button appeared beside weblinks as well as ads, and if you clicked on it, Google …

COMMENTS

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  1. ZankerH

    Great

    One more adblock filter policy to maintain. Is EasyPrivacy going to cover this?

  2. Gannon (J.) Dick
    Meh

    Awesomely Ambivalent

    All my ex's live in Texas and all my help desk +1's speak Punjabi. Homo Erectus, but Google helped.

  3. Martin 47

    a correction

    'Our goal at Google is to get you the most relevant results as quickly as possible'

    er, looks like a mistake to me, surely it should read

    'Our goal at Google is to get you the most relevant adverts as quickly as possible'

    and thats not a goal I particularly want to help them achieve thanks

    1. Chris 3
      Big Brother

      So...

      Don't click the button?

      1. Allicorn
        Holmes

        Title schmitle

        The button image or JS will undoubtedly be served from Google's servers so even /seeing/ the button feeds information to them about your habits.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Clicking the button is irrelevant

        They'll have tracked you and site you were in as soon as they served the button picture. Just like Facebook.

  4. MrMcginty

    PageRank

    Google have been saying for at least two years that PageRank is being phased out, but this may be the omen that begins to convince the dozen or so PR companies I work with that the days of measuring the 'green bar' are numbered. I think the next major iteration of the Google Dance is going to be 'Like'-led, as I always believed. But foolishly I didn't think Google were going to get in on that act directly.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Where is the minus one

    What I would really like is a button the lets me tell them what I really don't like, because those are the really wasted ads.

    1. Spanners Silver badge
      Big Brother

      Would be nice IRL too

      I saw the puff-piece new article yesterday about augmented reality. Then everyone could identify what everybody disliked.

      Unfortunately Google, like FaceBook, is probably not going to provide a Dislike button. People would be too prone to disliking what they are 'not suppose to'.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    +1

    "It’s called +1 – the digital shorthand for 'this is pretty cool,'" the company said.

    -------------------

    +1 doesn't mean "pretty cool". It means "I am in agreement with this" or "I lend my support to this". "Coolness" doesn't factor into it.

  7. Charlie Clark Silver badge
    Devil

    KGB 2.0

    What it means is... "Track me"

    "Like" has been Facebook's USP for the collection of hopefully reliable demographic data: "23 % of people who visit your site are between 20 and 25 and earn more than ... per year". All these buttons set a cookie check whether they can identify you if you are logged in.

    No wonder Google wants a piece of this action before the notoriously slow data protection authorities put a stop to it.

    What is interesting is that people would be up in arms if they thought a government was behind it but roll over meekly if they think it is because a private company is giving them a chance to make a difference. Companies don't give a shit if you like XYZ as long you buy it.

  8. AceRimmer1980
    FAIL

    The Coolness Paradox

    If you have to *say* that something's cool, it now isn't.

  9. Bob 18

    Chrome?

    They should put the +1 button on Chrome Browser itself. Then it's automatically extended to the entire web (for those who want Google to know what they're browsing, which I do not, so I use Firefox).

    1. Lamont Cranston
      Coat

      Or use Opera,

      thus convincing Google that you do not exist.

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