Google + recommendations are now live as of July 9th. This feature allows an additional feature to the Google + button. The button previously was used strictly for users to share great content they recommend. Now within the website, when you roll over the +1 button, it will provide recommendations of great content within that sub-domain. This provides an easier and more streamlined way of seeing highly rated content that is relevant to users.
Now when you hover over the +1 icon anywhere within a website, you will see something similar to the image on the right. This image is from the Google Chrome webpage.
It doesn’t matter if you have signed up for Google + or not, the feature works either way. The feature will automatically update for all of those who have the +1 already.
Google will not show links from other sites when you hover over the +1 button to keep things on-topic.
Julie Farago, Google Engineering Manager, stated, “+1’ing something has always been a fun and lightweight way to engage with online content. It’s also a powerful discovery tool, making it easier for friends to find the best content by showing social annotations in search results and ads, and now we’re taking it to the next level.” She also added, “To keep these recommendations more relevant and on-topic, we will always refer to pages on the same domain or sub-domain as the +1 button.”
The recommendations are great because they could change depending on what content on your site is more popular. Also it’s a recommendation coming from Google, who is a third party, giving it more credibility than self-promotion.
Right now the feature is for desktop only, though a mobile feature is in the works. Farago hinted that it would be a non-hover version for mobile. If you have questions or would just like to provide Google with a review of the product you can join the Google Developer forum.
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