It may not come as a big surprise to you that Google is trying to beat Facebook. And Twitter is trying to figure out how to monetize. And it’s been a big week for both with Google +1 and Twitter follow launching.

Sean McGinnis wrote an introductory piece on +1 and the future of search here a couple of weeks ago, before it was launched to most English-speaking websites. It’s here now!

The thing I like about both is you don’t have to direct people to leave your site in order to follow you on Twitter. Likewise a person can like your website or blog, just like they would for Facebook, but this time it hits their Google profile.

One of the scary things about social media is it’s constantly changing and technology companies race to beat one another to be the new, shiny penny. (more…)