Editor’s note: This article was first published in June 2011 as a news item. The Google+ and +1 button features it describes were later discontinued, with Google+ closing to consumers in 2019, and the Google Analytics social reports have changed since.
Over the last two weeks, every day we use Google we come across new changes, and, it must be said, changes for the better. Changes to the search engine’s interface, new services in the webmaster tools, a social network, and now Google Analytics.
From today, as announced on the official Google Analytics blog, visitor statistics will show not only the number of visits but also the number of Facebook likes, how many of our Twitter messages have been retweeted, and how many times our readers have clicked Google’s +1 button.
As before, this new statistical analysis will also tell us the country from which our articles have been shared or retweeted.
As we have already seen, Google search now shows the +1 button and the people in our circle of “friends” who have shared a result, whether they are Google or Twitter contacts. Search results also now include, usually at the bottom of the page, several Twitter links with the keyword that has recently been shared.
Google is in the middle of “socializing” its services, a process that will be complete once its new social network, Google+, is 100% available.
Featured image: Mace Ojala, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr.
