In June we launched the
+1 button for websites, making it easier to recommend content across the web. In July, the +1 button crossed
2 billion daily views, and we also made it
a lot faster. Today the +1 button appears on more than a million sites, with over 4 billion daily views, and we're extremely excited about this momentum.
It's just the beginning, however, and today we're launching two more features that make +1 buttons more useful for users and publishers alike.
Sharing with your circles on Google+
Clicking the +1 button is a great way to highlight content for others when they search on Google. But sometimes you want to start a conversation right away—at least with certain groups of friends. So beginning today, we're making it easy for Google+ users to share webpages with their circles, directly from the +1 button. Just +1 a page as usual and look for the new "Share on Google+" option. From there you can comment, choose a circle and share.
+Snippets
When you share content from the +1 button, you’ll notice that we automatically include a link, an image and a description in the sharebox. We call these "+snippets," and they're a great way to jumpstart conversations with the people you care about.
Of course: publishers can benefit from +snippets as well. With just a few changes to their webpages, publishers can actually customize their +snippets and encourage more sharing of their content on Google+. More details are available on the
Google Webmaster blog.
We're rolling out sharing and +snippets globally over the next week, but if you’d like to try the new +1 button now, you can join our
Google+ Platform Preview. Once you're part of the Preview, just visit a site with the +1 button (like
Rotten Tomatoes) and +1 the page. Thanks for all of your feedback so far, and stay tuned for more features in the weeks and months ahead!
Posted by
Vic Gundotra,
Senior Vice President of Engineering
