A colleague of mine, Michelle Long, recently sent me an invitation to join Google+.  While I could make the argument that I don’t need another social media site to manage and monitor, curiosity definitely killed this cat and I jumped at the chance to test Google’s latest offering, and the internet’s newest social networking site.

My quick assessment: Google+ is Facebook meets Twitter, backed by the power of an 800-pound-gorilla-of-a-search-engine called Google.  If you have a Google account, you might as well give Google+ a try.  It has features that Facebook doesn’t have, and some of them are pretty cool.  If you need an invitation, contact me and I’ll send you one.

The one feature that really sticks out is the “+1” you can give to posts, websites, and seemingly any other content posted by a Google+ user.  This is the equivalent of a “Like” on Facebook.  But it matters more than a “Like” on Facebook, pretty much because Google says it does (see Wired Magazine’s article on the topic: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/08/google-studying-re-ranking-search-results-using-1-button-data-but-its-touchy/).

I’d venture to say the +1 is here to stay.  But are we stuck with such a dumb way to indicate that we “Like” something?  Am I really supposed to say, “Great website, Michelle.  I +1’ed it last night”?  No offense to a company that could squash my online presence with the click of a mouse, but I can do better than that.  So starting now, I will no longer +1 a website, I will be “One-Upping” it.

The way I see it, why not nickname Google’s latest offering?  You have to admit it needs one, and “One Upping” explains the situation pretty well: by giving a site or post a +1, you’re giving it a leg up in the competition against similar sites and posts.

So what do you think?  Am I on to something?  If you’re a Google+ user, “One Up” this blog to show your support. 

How do you +1 this blog?  Google “Balance Books Blog” and click on the +1 next to the entry on the search results page.