G+ button again: currently no plans to implement

1. 85

   jponiatoposted 11 years ago

   "Studies show that traffic from Google+  to sites that have the +1 button is 3.5 x greater than traffic from Google+ to sites without the +1 button."
   
   [redacted]
   
   Tell me again why we don't have the G+ button available on our hubs?

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   1. 88

      cmoneyspinner1tfposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      That's incredible!  Besides not even noticing that the HUBs don't have a Google Plus One button, I write for other sites like Wizzley, YAHOO Voices, Seekyt, and Treasure Pen and they don't have the button either!  Maybe we all need to use the Google Chrome browser.  I understand there's an ADD-ON that allows you to Plus One any page.  I don't use Google Chrome.  That's what I heard.  Are you following me on this?  The mystery perhaps behind the missing G+1 button.  I'm just thinking out loud. But can you hear me? 

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      1. 85

         jponiatoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, Chrome has an add-on that allows one to +1 any page.  If all my readers used Chrome and installed that plug-in, I'd be happy.  They don't. 
         
         True, Yahoo! Voices doesn't have the +1 button, either.  Nor does it have Pin-it or facebook's "like" button.  HubPages does have those, so why not the +1 button?

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         1. 88

            cmoneyspinner1tfposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Maybe we're all being prodded to use Google Chrome.  It's a thought.  We're just mere mortals.  The gods move the pieces on the chess board.  (Hope nobody on the Google Team reads this.  I'm trying to sneak and say this behind their backs.) 
            
            I totally get your point.  Just sayin' if it was there before and HP management team removed it, there must be a reason we don't see or know.  Surely they must know the benefits and advantages of having a Plus One button!  With all us talking about it, they're probably behind the scenes working on it! I have great faith in them to move this website forward and upward.  Besides, what reasonable thinking person wants to cut off their nose to spite their face?

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      2. 87

         Phyllis Doyleposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I don't like the Google Chrome browser and have not heard anything good about it from people I know who has/had it.

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      3. 88

         cmoneyspinner1tfposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         MY BAD!!  Wizzley does the Google+1 button.

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   2. 87

      Phyllis Doyleposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I often share my hubs in my Google+ account with all my circles. That helps to bring more traffic to my hubs. There is a G+ button on all my posts there and I use that button. I think I should post all my hub links there to help bring in more traffic.

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   3. STAFF

      pauldeedsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I believe the study you are referring to is this 3 year old post from the HubSpot Inbound Marketing Blog.
      
      Last month across all of HubPages there were about 5,600 referrals from Google+ as compared to well into the millions each from Facebook and Pinterest.  In fact, Google+ is the #14 social referrer on HubPages according to Google Analytics, behind reddit and ravelry among others (that also don't have buttons).
      
      Anyway,  if that study is correct (and I have my doubts about its applicability to our situation here in 2014), then adding the G+ button to all 888,000 published hubs would get us a grand total of about 14,000 more referrals each month from Google+, which is about 0.016 per Hub.   Or, to put it another way, 1 out of every 62 hubs would get 1 additional view a month.  To put that into perspective, if we could tweak the Facebook or Pinterest buttons in some way that yielded even a 1% improvement in traffic from those sources, that increase would dwarf the impact of the addition of a G+ button.
      
      Adding extra buttons to a page also has a cost, in terms of page load performance, user experience, design, maintenance cost, and in other ways, and some of those things can have a direct impact on traffic and revenue themselves.
      
      Rest assured that we keep a close eye on what works when it comes to social traffic, and if and when we think the positives outweigh the negatives we will add (or remove) social buttons.

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      1. 87

         Suzanne Dayposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you for that succinct explanation. I can see why the Google+ button is not there then. I guess we can just promote it ourselves on our own subdomains with our own Google+ accounts. The only really outstanding thing about Google+ is the extra pumped link juice from the +ing. Otherwise, it's just another insignificant social network.

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      2. 87

         Phyllis Doyleposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Paul, thank you for your detailed explanation. This really helps to understand it all.

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      3. 88

         cmoneyspinner1tfposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         OK!  Now this is what I call a real answer.  I'm done with this thread.  Moving on! Thanks!

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      4. 85

         jponiatoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you for the in-depth answer.  I too will move on, and trust that HP will at some point - when it makes sense to do so - re-introduce the +1 button.

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2. 60

   paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

   I have likewise poked HP with a stick about this.
   
   It is indeed a mystery...

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      LuisEGonzalezposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Perhaps an electric cattle prod will get their attention???     

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      1. 60

         paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Where did I put that...

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         1. 87

            sallybeaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I have one on my google search bar, easily downloaded from your Google Account - or are you wanting one near your profile page!  I can use the button on any page, mine or that of anyone else.

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            1. 85

               jponiatoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Agreed, but unless all of our readers do that, then we're missing out on a lot of plus-1s and shares.  Most won't have that.

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               1. 69

                  Sue Adamsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  +2000

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3. 60

   paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

   I got curious and checked 3 different writer-content sites; a major player, an average, and a total slacker. All 3 had the G+ button.
   
   Another note. Blogger (owned by Google) practically begs you to spam your blog posts on your G+ account.
   
   Curiouser and curiouser...

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4. 87

   Suzanne Dayposted 11 years ago

   Yes, this would boost our hubs a lot having this. I vote for it too.

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5. 69

   Sue Adamsposted 11 years ago

   From my experience, a Google Plus account with 5000 friends drives more traffic to a hub than Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter combined. It figures, Google is going to boost their own shares more than those of their competitors. I think it is a bad oversight to deprive us from this great opportunity.
   BRING BACK THE GOOGLE PLUS BUTTON!

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   1. 82

      Thelma Albertsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, please. We had that before as I can remember.

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6. 79

   Wesman Todd Shawposted 11 years ago

   Holy smoke, just post the links on G+ and be done with it.

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   1. 69

      Sue Adamsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      As mentioned previously by jponiato, you forget one thing Todd:
      "unless all of our readers do that ( which they won't bother doing), then we're missing out on a lot of plus-1s and shares."

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      1. 49

         Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I agree that we should have the Google+ button.  I think that is far more valuable for the platform than posting outdated Forum threads at the bottom of each post now.  For three years HubPages has had problems with Google and you would think that its efforts would be devoted to solving that issue.

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   2. 87

      sallybeaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Wesman Todd Shaw - I agree, post the links on Google + it is a piece of cake and is something everyone can do themselves - or why not write a Hub on how to do it!

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      1. 69

         Sue Adamsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Let me explain again Sally: There is a huge difference between
         (1) posting links of one's hubs on our own Google + account and
         (2) having a Google + button  which can be used by all our readers.

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         1. 87

            sallybeaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Fair enough - has anyone officially requested one on the ' New HubPages Feature Suggestion page'  - this subject comes up time and time again - perhaps an official request would work!

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            1. 87

               Suzanne Dayposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Where is the page?

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               1. 87

                  sallybeaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/119282

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                  1. 87

                     Suzanne Dayposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                     Thanks. It says it is closed to reply....so not sure how I am supposed to instigate this???

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                     1. 87

                        sallybeaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                        I think you would add it to the reply button on the top of the orange note from Matthew Meyer.  This is part of the reply which I got from Meyer Matthew about another request I made to have an Anonymous Comments Button placed on our Pages.
                        
                        Here is the feature suggestion forum.
                        http://hubpages.com/forum/category/6634
                        
                        We read each suggestion, but cannot reply to all of them.
                        http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/119282

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                        1. 87

                           sallybeaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                           sorry, the bottom of the orange note.

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                           1. 87

                              Suzanne Dayposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                              There is no reply button under the orange note? It just says closed to replies.
                              
                              Anyway, I looked in the feature suggestion forum and this post is already on there at the top....

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7. 0

   calculus-geometryposted 11 years ago

   I'd also like to have the +1 button again.  But looking back at previous requests to reinstate the +1 button, staff hasn't responded with even a tentative "maybe."
   
   http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/108579
   
   http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/99385
   
   Maybe this time if the answer is a definite "no" they will at least explain why.

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   1. 0

      calculus-geometryposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks to Related discussions I found 2 more
      
      http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/99262
      
      http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/108438

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8. 83

   Jayne Lancerposted 11 years ago

   Why is it a problem to install a Google +1 button? Am I missing something?

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9. 67

   Cheeky Girlposted 11 years ago

   Having too much of a "reliance" on Google could under certain conditions - be a disadvantage to users of HubPages. There are some theories as to the reasons why Google is perceived as not "liking" HubPages. Liking is such a subjective thing. If we all got on with the job of promoting our work and our writing by using everything else instead of Google, then we might get somewhere.
   
   The more everyone is in a relationship of dependency with Google, the more control and power Google seem to gain. And when Google monetizes that relationship, it gets hard to resist that candy they offer.
   
   If Google Adsense and Google Search were two different companies and not joined at the hip, then things would be somewhat better.
   
   I am open to the belief that perhaps everyone is waiting for the next newest best social media platform to come along so that we can all start using that new one instead, and add it to our list of tools.
   
   I know there are no Instagram or Snapchat buttons on Hubs either, but they are very popular and used as lot. When the web tilts in their favor, there may be developments. In the meantime, I would continue to promote in the usual way by word of mouth, by email, by LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest and by personal recommendation.
   
   Did you know that on Amazon, the more reviews a book gets, the more it sells? Just saying it. Google plus is just what it is. Add it to your toolbox but don't put it in the box and throw everything else out. The Panda update taught us to never trust to just one thing, remember?

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   1. 69

      Sue Adamsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Why  "use everything else instead of Google"? Do you really think Google will like HubPages better if we ignore its tools?
      
      A Google Plus button is a valuable addition to the sharing tools already available to us. It really works, so why not use it?

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      1. 51

         milijemaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I'd like the GooglePlus button back

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10. 85

    jponiatoposted 11 years ago

    Until HubPages re-introduces the +1 button, I might try a text link like this one on some of my Hubs as an experiment:
    
    https://plus.google.com/share?url=your-page-url
    
    Wonder how HubPages would feel about that?

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    1. 88

       cmoneyspinner1tfposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I can't think for other people.  But I see no reason why they (HP) wouldn't applaud your entrepreneurial spirit along your ability to adapt and work with what you got!  (I think you'll know how they feel if they shut you down. )

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11. 68

    ilikegamesposted 11 years ago

    I've found this discussion to be very interesting, since I'm not on G+ I didn't even notice that there wasn't a button.

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12. 67

    ChicagoPhotosposted 11 years ago

    You cannot use the same method that you choose to drink Pepsi or Coke to choose what Giant internet engines you will associate with. It is NOT an " all or nothing" situation.
    This is, at first glance what looks like a horse race.You choose your horse ( FB, linkedin, Pintrest, G+....) you place your bet and sit idly by  and watch the race.  But it is not.  The problem is that some of the "horses" in this race will ever finish the race while others will turn into fighter jets and finish the race at a speed of mach 1. 
    
    Enough brain dump.  I'll spell it out.
    
    Take a good look at G+ and then at FB.  Now, pull up google and do a search for, I suggest   " marketing consultants".  Notice how the Google page looks a lot like the Status page of FB.  Add to the fact that if you understand "authoring pages" you can see where Google is heading.  a Web page that FB took the time to train 1Billion users how to use.  Will it work?  who knows.  DO you base you decisions of using G+ and in this case having HP imbed G+ to their marketing engine ( don't fool yourself, it is marketing)
    
    Nobody know where this is all headed. Nobody knows who's business model will succeed and who's will fail.  but when it happens, you will recall the day you decided to put your eggs in many OR few baskets.  Trust me, This is not the first time it happened.
    
    Internet Stats from a year or so  ago do not predict the future. Companies are morphing their horses into race cars then into rockets. 
    
    As for " slower load times"  that someone posted.   No offense, but Please.  The people who are going to be linking, sharing and forwarding Hpages are not the ones with slow connections.  That market is purely an early / mid adopter trait.
    It is a fools move to NOT connect to the most powerful search engine on the planet.  G+ is their baby, Don't you think that the Mother of G+ wants the best for it's baby?

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    1. 69

       Sue Adamsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I'll G+ that any day!

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13. 84

    Easy Exerciseposted 11 years ago

    I like the idea of more promotion and using the G+ button - great point.
    
    I miss the old days here at HubPages where we could print a recipe or a hub.
    
    I have a church gathering and would really like to print some exercise hubs but alas that function has disappeared.

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