Google and Facebook Square Off Again for Social Media Dominance

Google is making an aggressive jump into social with the new plus-one voting system they’re embedding in search results and while this isn’t the first time that Google has tried hard to get their share of the social web, this is the first time that they have added a social signal directly into the search results.

We know that Google has been moving in this direction with recent updates as they tried to find ways to include social sharing and buzz into the ranking algorithm but this is a step in a new direction.  Where we were once inundated by nothing but text and blue links within search results, Google has continued to prove to its audience that they’re changing the landscape for search to ensure that people get the most relevant content.

The Changing Landscape of Search with Social Media Buzz

Google got smart and realized that people don’t share crap, and they won’t share crap with trusted networks.  Thus it makes sense to trust the majority of ‘likes’ and social sharing that takes place across social media on the web.  Many of us saw this coming a long time ago which is why SYNND has such a successful system already in place for social buzz building and social proof.  As the primary social networks continue to grow as well as secondary social media networks and social bookmarking sites, the parts they play in determine content relevancy and search rank will only continue to grow.

So where does the new Plus One from Google come in to play?

Google Aims to Suck Less at Social Media with the Plus One

And there stands the truth behind it all – Google, while carrying the torch for search around the world, sucks terribly at social media.  The downfall of Google Buzz showed that it’s extremely difficult to compete in a market being dominated by Twitter and Facebook but Google is aiming to get their share of the market with the new Plus One.

They’ve even told current employees that their paychecks and jobs in 2011 depend on Google becoming a major player in social media.  But can Google go head to head with the Facebook like button?

When Can You Ask for Too Much in Social Media

It’s obvious that the Plus One system that Google is putting in place is going to have some effect on rank.  Popular sites are going to see a major boost because of this ranking factor and social media is indeed important but we have to question when you get to a point where you’re asking too much of people.  Will all the “buttons” that we add within, around and in the entry to content saturate surfers to the point that they start to tune them out?

Based on the weight that Google is putting on social sharing and their own investment into the one-click thumbs up, it doesn’t look like they think so.  At the very least we can see that Google is making an aggressive push in order to take their spot in social media.  They’ve got a bit of a head start on this one since they’re running the search engine show and users don’t have to do anything other than a single click within search to take advantage of the Plus One – a play cleverly stolen from the Facebook Playbook.  Another is the ability to Plus One (+1) the ads that exist within search.

The only questions now is when will Google will roll out the social media plugin for websites as one more ranking factor for the actual on-page content within a domain.

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