After a series of flops in the field of social web, this attempt is good? On Wednesday, Google introduced “+1″, a function similar to “like” Facebook. In the immediate future, you can recommend a search result. The button will however be integrated with the rest of the galaxy Google (beginning with YouTube, no doubt) and maybe the rest of the web.

Problem, the function requires a “Google Profile”. A what? Exactly. Ask ten people if they have them, and they look at you in general with a look of incomprehension, asking if you’re talking about Gmail. The few experts confess that they never use this page which attempts to link the various social services like Buzz Google, YouTube or Picasa.

For now, activate the function here. Then just click a button to the right of a search result. Your network profile Google / Gmail / Buzz will then see the recommendation and Google will use this signal to improve its search. More interestingly, the business side, it is also possible to recommend AdWords advertising (eg a travel site or a coupon).

Puzzle

Except that Google manages to convince more people to get started, or that one can appear on a Facebook wall or a timeline Twitter, the interest is still limited. Besides some people recommend an outcome before you have clicked on it … This forces the user-pending flower buttons on the Web to go back to the results page for “plussoyer” link. Ineffective.

Facebook has managed to create a social network, and then joined key functions (tag, status, like). Google, trying to catch up, offers features first but sorely lacking in the sauce to moisten.