Success of Google’s +1 hinges on paradigm shift in social interactions
08 Apr 2011
Google's new feature +1 allows searchers, i.e only those who already have a public Google Profile, to personalise search results and advertisements and recommend web pages to friends.
However, there are some immediate shortcomings if Google is hoping to conquer the social sphere in a bid to bolster further its dominance in the search space.
Unless Google can trigger some kind of a paradigm shift as far as online social interactions are concerned - allowing it to reposition as first to market, Google has little option other than to buy Twitter.
Creating its own copycat is unlikely to succeed. In the case of online advertising, +1 has potential to increase click-through rates (CTRs) and reduce advertising costs.
From an online marketing perspective, the speed at which search and social are converging means there is an immediate need for specialist teams and search and social marketing technologies to help bridge the divide, keeping up with the rapid pace of change.
Google needs a major partnership / acquisition to make Social work in Search results
Google's latest social feature, similar to Facebook's 'like' button will only work for Google if it can manage to import data from Facebook, Twitter and kin, into the individuals Google Profile thereby making Google, the gatekeeper of social interactions.
