A great post from +Mark Traphagen about what a plus one is and what it isn`t:
It is very difficult to determine why someone plussed something or what they meant by it
My add-on is that Google build in an auto-anti-spam mechanism from the start. That is, this feature was introduced when Google launched the plus one button. This was before Google+ launched. Namely it only appears when you have a connection with a particular person:
Like social search, we use many signals to identify the most useful recommendations, including things like the people you are already connected to through Google (your chat buddies and contacts, for example). 1
Because this was launched before Google+ they couldn`t say Google+, but these days it is all Google+:
Activity updates may also be visible in Google+ search results to anyone who can see the original post. 2
You can edit your settings at:
https://plus.google.com/apps/google
The default settings are Extended circles, or in Facebook terms friends of friends. And this is where the auto-anti-spam mechanism is. Namely the plus ones will only appear and impact to the extended circle. In other words, you need to have a connection with that person. For example, if you buy plus ones you only get connections from a spam-bot, they will not affect a real person, and thereby it will not improve your business at all.
1 http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/1s-right-recommendations-right-when-you.html
2 https://support.google.com/plus/answer/3113301?p=plusone_posts & rd=1
The Powerful Punch of a Google Plus +1
