Google +1

[edyy]

This is available world wide and i've see that many sites adopted the +1 button. They've ( google ) inserted the option on Webmaster +1 Metrics and it seems that it has an impact over the CTR

[dnoe09]

Kinda ironic.. at the top of this thread next to the title. The FB option to "Like" the thread is there. lol

[mcmurdo]

I'd love to the see a Google Plus button but then a good portion of my new members that are not related to other similar forums are coming from social media. I wish they had something for Twitter as well.

[HenrikHansen]

The +1 button can be added in 1 minute by a simple template modification. It is explained at .org

[Project-Buckfast]

The +1 button can be added in 1 minute by a simple template modification. It is explained at .org

Indeed. Takes only a few seconds to cut and paste into your template.

[Mark.B]

I added it to my site easily enough.

As usual I slightly copied XenForo with the layout.

[DevOne5555]

Please spare me from yet another major company coming up with another "new feature" that's designed to drive traffic away from my site, and that will also make my site run slowly when their servers inevitably struggle.

Mark have you noted a measurable drop in traffic as a result of using things like the Facebook Share or Twitter buttons? I'm not saying you're wrong, but your advice runs counter to just about every SEO strategy I've ever read. Diverting traffic from your site to other sites – especially ones with the massive online presence of something like Facebook – is not a bad thing. It's an important part of any successful online marketing strategy; it's called backlinking.

The +1 button can be added in 1 minute by a simple template modification. It is explained at .org

Is there any .org thread in particular that helped you, and would you mind sharing a link to it? I've read a number of posts there and looked at most/all of the current mods for doing this, but they leave a lot to be desired. You're right that copying/pasting the +1 code is dead simple; controlling its placement/positioning is not. I want a simple forum block below the navbar on forumhome and showthread with Google, Twitter and Digg counters (something like this), and I want to be able to control which forums it does or does not appear in (i.e. to hide it from private forums). The mods I've found require enabling Facebook Connect, which I was hoping to avoid.

Doing what I've mentioned should be simple, but the template system makes it needlessly verbose. As a means of encouraging greater interaction and promoting your site, things like Twitter buttons are essential survival tools. Google +1 is one of those essential tools. Wordpress has been quick to support it, and so should Internet Brands.

[digitalpoint]

The social buttons don't divert traffic from your site. Of Twitter, Faebook Like and Google+ button, the only one that a user can click and even GO to another site is the Twitter button, and that one opens in a new window anyway.

In fact it's quite the opposite... you figure everyone that Likes, Tweets or +1s your site, it essentially puts a link to your site in front of hundreds of people every time it's done. For us (digitalpoint.com) it works out to about 300 visitors per day coming INTO the site that we would have otherwise not gotten for the Tweet and Like button.

The +1 is a little more complicated and I haven't started compiling data on it yet... in addition to the normal referrals you would get from users seeing it in their Google Plus stream from their friend's, it also potentially raises your rankings in search results. See info about the affect in search results here: http://www.google.com/intl/en/webmas...ton/index.html

Google Webmaster Tools actually gives some pretty good search impact data for the annotated (+1) results. digitalpoint.com within Google search results average a 29% CTR, but the results shown with annotated +1s on them garner a 77% CTR.

[mbooth]

We've had invitations from Google to give it a whirl, but I'm unconvinced. We still have some performance issues with Facebook's like button, so I'm reluctant to add yet more external influences over raw site speed.

[Alfa1]

Thats the main reason why I will not add facebook, etc to my site.

Does anyone know if there is a way to use such functionality from google, facebook, etc without impacting performance?

[digitalpoint]

You can make it so Twitter, Facebook and/or Google buttons only load after your page loads (that's what we do).

[Carlos 360]

Indeed. Takes only a few seconds to cut and paste into your template.

People like you say it like its "easy as pie." But what happens if vBulletin makes a new release? You'd have to go back to the templates, revert them, and re-add the template edit you made.

[a legacy reborn]

People like you say it like its "easy as pie." But what happens if vBulletin makes a new release? You'd have to go back to the templates, revert them, and re-add the template edit you made.

That is if the templates to be reverted includes that one , "People like you", a little harsh?

[Alfa1]

You can make it so Twitter, Facebook and/or Google buttons only load after your page loads (that's what we do).

I was hoping you would say that. Could you please show me how?

[digitalpoint]

Well... I use jQuery for things on my site (including this), so it's not going to work unless you also use jQuery, even if you don't you get the general idea...

$(document).ready(function() {
	$('body').append('<script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>');
});

So you are only adding the JavaScript files to your page AFTER the page has loaded (is "ready").