Why I'm Not Adding a +1 Button Any Time Soon

Last week Google launched the code to add its "social" +1 button to websites. Larger sites like AdAge, Mashable, Huffington Post and a few other blogs made the new addition to their sites as a result. However, don't look for a +1 button to pop up on this blog any time soon. Why? Mainly because I don't see a huge advantage.

It's easy to get a site cluttered up with social sharing buttons. There's so many ways to share content on the web that it's hard to draw the line on what sharing options you offer on a blog post. I like to offer things that offer more link dropping for my page and social sharing credibility. However I think the +1 button (as it stands now) doesn't really do that for me.

If a reader were to +1 this site, it would only have their name appear as an endorser of a link in a Google search...and would only appear if they were in my Google contact database. It doesn't have any affect on my Google search rankings anymore than if that individual just visited and moved on with their lives doing nothing.

Facebook Likes buttons or Twitter share buttons mean more to me. Contacts in my Twitter and Facebook database are skewed to be more personal and engaging. At least in theory. Someone Liking my page leads to more traffic potential for my site than someone simply stating they approve without any improvements to SEO at all. The same with Twitter. Someone tweeting out this article helps me draw more traffic than if they clicked +1.

I may be wrong down the road but for now - the +1 doesn't seem like a good use of real estate for my blog at this time. I love Google but in the name of saving space, this is one feature I'm not buying into yet. I think it's another example of how Google doesn't need to try and be Facebook or Twitter but instead...just be Google. It's what got them to where they are in the first place.

What do you all think? Is Google's +1 button worth it as of now?