You might have seen the +1 button on various websites around the web during the last couple of months. However, it didn’t really do much except for adding a link to a tab of a Google+ profile that tends to get overlooked anyway. Sure, that’s a nice feature, but it’s pointless if no one is going to see the content you like and want to share.
Now, that button is actually useful. Basically, when anyone clicks on the +1 button now, it will show a pop-up box asking the user if they want to share this with their Circles on Google+. Whatever the user decides to type in will be published directly to a user’s news Stream on Google’s constantly evolving social network.
This updated feature also totes along a new one called +snippets. Google describes this as a “way to jumpstart conversations with the people you care about,” but it’s actually just another aspect of doing the +1 process. Much like when you’d add a link on Facebook or Google+ manually, the user hits the +1 button and a brief description, photo and title are automatically formatted for sharing.
As for webmasters, Google outlines the opportunity for customizing the look for exactly what appears when their content is shared. That’s actually incredibly important. How many times have you tried to share an item on Facebook, and some odd photo or weird text appears in the headline or description? Sometimes, it can cause a person not to want to end up sharing the item, thus ruining another potential stream of traffic to the source.
Both of these features will be rolling out to users throughout the week.
For a closer look at how to use the +1 button and +snippets, check out the promo video below:
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