Google announced yesterday that it is rolling out a new feature where faces and names of “friends” (people among your various Google contacts) who have clicked a +1 button on your site can show up as names and tiny profile pics next to the button. It looks like the example image to the right.
This behavior is similar to a feature the Facebook Like button has had for some time that has been shown to increase the number of clicks by visitors. Obviously, it is designed to increase the trust factor associated with the button.
At present, the feature is available only to webmasters who have signed up for the Google+ Platform Preview Group (click link to get an invite). Members of that group simply need to update their +1 Button code snippet at the +1 Webmasters Code Page, selecting “inline” as the annotation option (or just add annotation=”inline” to the code snippet).