10 Reasons Google +1 is Actually -1 (a negative)

“+1” is Internet-speak for “me,too” or “partner”, which means it is Google’s way of trying to infuse it’s searches with a social-network feel, a la Facebook, with its “like” feature. Google may be finding out, however, that Facebook and Google apply to different user needs, because early reports show tepid public interest in the new feature.

What’s wrong with “+1”? Well, here are some of the answers that have been reported, to date.

1. Ho-Hum – Many users report that the “+1” is pretty boring, and hasn’t broken any new ground that needed breaking.
2. Unwieldy – Users have to backtrack to click the “+1” icon, something few are willing to do. Computer users researching a subject are into speed, and moving forward, and probably don’t want to spend time going backwards, just to be social.
3. Gaming the Results – As with any ranking service, “+1” will be subject to all manner of manipulation, in order to boost ratings of any given site.
4. Data Retrieval – Users, particularly those with websites, have reported that information was difficult to obtain, and often appeared to be out-of-date.
5. Social Sharing Overload – The question of whether or not we need to share our “likes” of a given search begs the more pertinent question: “who cares”?
6. Peer Pressure – People often flock to anything with a brand name, and the brand name doesn’t get much bigger than “Google”, whether the service does them any good or not.
7. Security – There is always the fear that any service that stores any user information at all, including “+1” clicks on a search, could open the user up to security breaches and attacks.
8. Page Loading Time – Nobody wants to wait for pages to load, and there are fears that the “+1” feature many slow down those load times. Reports that load times may increase by two seconds per page cause great concern for website users; clients and customers don’t stick around when a page takes forever to load, and, today, those two seconds are tantamount to forever.
9. Overrated / Oversold – When something comes from Google, big things are expected of it, and “+1” doesn’t seem to be living up to its own hype.
10. Revenue Shortfall – Users with websites are not getting the economic boost they were hoping for by ranking highly in “+1” clicks.

Google may not have hit the nail on-the-head with it’s “+1”, or it’s possible that it will evolve and improve over time, but the new feature has not exactly set the world on its collective ear, so the jury is still out.

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