When the Google +1 button first rolled out earlier this year, it made a little bit of a splash from speculation that it may have an effect on general search rankings some time in the future. It was designed to help logged-in friends help each other with suggested web pages. Not a big deal.

When Google then launched the Google+ social network, the similarities in design and integration of functionality became more intriguing. Users could click the +1 button on any website that had it installed and could use it to share the page on their Google+ profile. Again, great stuff, but nothing huge.

Now, the implications are starting to make themselves known and the possibilities continue to grow. They quietly launched the official Chrome extension that allows people to +1 any page on the internet regardless of whether the page has a button or not. What does this mean?

In short, it means that Google is wanting to integrate the data collection not only from the pages we visit but also based upon the pages we like (as well as the pages we surf and choose not to like. Assuming that it will eventually be available on Firefox and other browsers, this could enhance an already-growing presence of +1 on both the social side as well as for search itself.

For those who do not know about the +1 button, here’s a brief overview: