Monday, July 18, 2011

If You Were to Rename Google +1 Feature

 A buzz is going around in social circles about Google +1 feature. It seems that engineers at Google, like always, decided to use mathematics as a tool to quantify social interactions. Although, Facebook's "Like" does quantify the number of likes on a post or a picture, the term "Like" itself has been historically a part of our day-to-day conversations - unlike +1 from Google. The notion of "Like" has been so deep-rooted in our psyche that we automatically associate ourselves without thinking twice about it. 
Steve Krug, the author of the book "Don't Make Me Think," advocates design with minimal cognitive strain. Google's +1 on the other hand, makes you think twice about its usage and intended notion.
If I liked a car, I never say, "I  +1  this car." +1 is a mathematical concept; and, is so far away from vernacular.
A successful website sticks with the existing users mental model.
If you are given an option to rename Google's +1 feature to make it more "humane," what would it be?

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