Currently, there are numerous stories related to Google’s “+1” aired in the business world and media. It is creating great controversies. Well, the success of Google’s latest attempt to infuse its search engine with social networking elements emerges underwhelming and questionable. As per the industry experts, the company is struggling hard to respond to the increasing serious threat posed by the Facebook and Microsoft search tandem.

Well, Google’s latest social search feature called ‘+1’ has been unveiled on Wednesday. But, it seems weak in umpteen areas such as a potentially baffling user experience, strong and established competition, as well as weak social graph anchor. In a nutshell, it seeks to emulate Facebook’s “Like” option. It allows users to keep a log of their favorite discoveries on Google. In this manner, Google appears to be a follower instead of an innovator in the core market.

Market analyst from Altimeter Group, Jeremiah Owyang says that this act of Google is definitely not revolutionary. In fact, it is fairly evolutionary. He goes on to term it as almost a desperate move to catch up with Facebook’s exploits. Indeed, he is very disappointed. According to him, Google need a huge leap forward in the current social space.

Everyone is aware that Google is a dominant leader in search usage and advertising. At the same time, the influence of Facebook, Twitter and other social networking and social media sites is growing rapidly. It affects how people find sites and content on the Web to a great extent. The “+1” feature is considered as a way for the company to get better gauge on the content quality. It allows the potential users to recommend results and share that feedback with others.

However, Google was anticipating this from past few years. In 2008, Google contemplated placing “up” and “down” arrows along with the search results to test a recommendation feature in a limited way. It was done to provide the users an ability to rearrange the search results and also comment. Thus, giving feedback will become convenient for users. Over the years, Google has provided varied customization and personalization tools for the same purpose to the users signed into Google Accounts. But, the above experiment was not particularly successful. Industry analyst Greg Sterling from Sterling Market Intelligence informs that the previous experiment of Google hasn’t penetrated to the mainstream usage. No wonder if “+1” will also experience the same fate.

Sterling says that yet, there is a possibility that “+1” can work in Google’s favor. If it happens, it could be instrumental as a data gathering tool. Google can use it to help its marketers optimize their AdWords advertising campaigns. Incorporation of “+1” into advertising is very interesting. IDC analyst Hadley Reynolds harmonizes with Sterling’s words and says that it will be great advantage for Google to acquire the data. It will make their search result even crisper. However, it is all about winning and retaining customers in the advertising game.