A few weeks ago Google launched the +1 button. Just in case you are not aware of it yet, it’s a small button which allows you to recommend a search result to your friends. It made the headline in a huge number of blogs around the web as the answer to Facebook’s like button. Unfortunately it’s already on it’s way to abandonment like buzz and Google wave.

Like most of the people I type a query, then the results show up, then I scan the results for a while and click on one of them. The surfing goes on and on until I need to perform another search. I don’t click the browser’s back button to return back to Google because I want to keep the page I’m currently viewing. Instead I perform the new search in a new tab.

Facebook’s like button is embedded in most websites and doesn’t interrupt my surfing. But in order to recommend a page with Google’s +1 I have to stop whatever I’m doing on the web and navigate a few pages back to the original search results page and then find the exact result I’ve clicked the first time. It’s a no-brainer that nobody wishes to interrupt his workflow to click a recommendation button.

It’s quite obvious to me that this is a pointless feature (at least in the way it’s implemented right now). There is no point for Google to have a recommendation button because people can’t recommend a webpage they haven’t visited yet. It’s a clear case of a company trying to imitate a successful feature from a competitor instead of really improving it’s own product. And the best way to know what your product is missing is to use it. Ever worse Google is trying to copy features from a social network to a search engine.

So if you are creating a product, just use it. Forget what the competition does and just add value. Not only there is no point in re-creating something that is already out there in the market but chances are that you are trying to fit yourself in someone else’s clothes.