Google launches +1 social Recommend to their results

Today on their Google blog Google announced a major step forward in user interaction with regard the Search Engine Results, namely +1. In short this is a social recommendation.

Google have produced a video here that better illustrates the system than my ramblings.and you can watch the Google +1 video by clicking that link.

While I applaud Google for this initiative, I can’t help thinking that once again some smart coders will instantly abuse this by creating a script, and that a trade in ‘+1’ liking will spring up.

Social recommend on a social forum where interaction is the name of the game is one thing, but social recommendation in a billion £££ marketplace is another. Google have of course thought long and hard about this, and I would guess they will take their core algorithm of citation, apply it to the social web, and then export it to their known data. For example, they know who I am, I have analytics on sites, I have an AdSense account, they have my bank details, They know all the interaction that goes on with regard my account.   This alone allows google to sift the wheat from the chaff with regards fake social profiles.

Personally I think it is a great step forward in the fight against pure link spam, although it does put additional reliance on social interaction, and we have all seen how a negative facebook campaign can give false results. I would hate to see a small number of activists having a detrimental affect on the Serps by ‘deciding’ who appears top via orchestrated social media campaigns, such as the one that prevented the X factor single from hitting the number one spot in the UK.

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