Button, button: Twitter, Google add buttons for your websites

As recent an innovation as it is, the Facebook "like" button has one thing to its credit: A new proliferation of buttons designed to bring your blog or website readers to your social media and search presences. This week, two major players added button options you'll want to try.

The less-known of these options, Google's +1 button, has been available in search results if you opted in to use it. Today, it goes live for everyone. In Google searches, you'll see and can click on the +1 and make that public or private. When others give you the +1 nod, you'll see their endorsement listed below the search result. (This is another good reason to have a Google profile, or at least a Gmail account, so other searchers can find out more about you.) But today, Google has released HTML code anyone can use to insert a +1 button to their blog or website, so your readers don't have to leave your pages to give you a +1 endorsement. Here's what the Google +1 button looks like--and if you click on this one, I'll get your +1!



Here's an example of the Twitter "follow" button, the one that feels most overdue to users with lots of Twitter followers--and perhaps even more to those looking to boost their follow counts. This one joins Twitter's existing "tweet" button that allows you to share content on Twitter from other websites.

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You have options to customize what's shown and the background. Go here to get your own Twitter follow button, and read more about it on the Twitter blog.

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