You already see social media buttons all over websites (including this one) begging for a little boost in their traffic: Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Stumbleupon, oh my! And now one more is on its way to cluttering up the space between blog posts and comments: the Google +1 button.
Google's trying to make their search results smarter via social tools, and the +1 initiative is a big part of that. If you vote a page or search result up with a +1, any of your friends who search on that topic will have your approved page bumped up higher in their search results. It's a way to make things like restaurants that your friends liked easier to find.
Of course, it all hinges on people actually using the thing, so if this sounds like a good idea, start clickin' that +1 button on sites you like.
Via Google Blog
