Google’s +1 Now Shares Like The Facebook Share Button

Google has announced that the +1 button will now have the option to share in your Google+ stream.  You will still have the option to simply 1-up the page, but you will now have the added option to share the page as well.

Up until now, Google’s +1 button was just a signal to Google and searchers that you thought a page was good.  But there was a lot of demand for a share button in Google+ like Facebook has.  So, Google obliged.  Just like with Facebook Share, when you share through Google’s +1, a snippet with a link, description and image will be automatically retrieved from the page and displayed in your Google+ stream.  You also have the option to add your own comments.

Adding a share feature to Google+ is a big move making Google+ more beneficial for webmasters.   How beneficial is yet to be seen as Google+ still has only a fraction of the users that Facebook has and it’s future is yet to be determined.  But considering how quickly Google+ has grown, there’s certainly reason to be optimistic.

You can see a short video below showing the new changes.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvJrfwuIRa4

The feature will be rolling out over the next several days.  So, if you don’t see it yet, you will soon.  You can also see the changes more quickly by signing up for Google+ Platform Preview.

What do you think?

Do you like this added feature?

Do you think this makes it more likely for Google to do well against Facebook?

Have you added a +1 button to your website yet?