Google Launch New Recommendation Service

When it comes to expressing how cool something is on the internet, we're kind of spoiled for choice. What with Facebook Like, Digg, Stumble Upon, Delicious and retweets on Twitter, you could argue there's little need for yet another alternative.

Google recently jumped on the recommendation bandwagon with the launch of the "+1" button. According to Rob Spiro, a Product Manager at Google, +1s are "the right recommendations when you want them – in your search results." And the power of the recommendations is that they're coming from "people who matter to you."

The +1 button takes search in new directions by tapping into the relevancy of relationships, as well as of search keywords. As Google rolls out the new feature, which will appear not only on Google search results but also on external sites, sites which have been "plus-oned" by your contacts will be flagged for you. Kind of helpful when you're sifting through the flotsam and jetsam of the average search query, which can generate many hundreds of thousands of results.