I already read the SEOmoz article, along with several others.
The short of it is:
- at this time, Google says it isn't affecting results, but they clearly offer hints that it could in the future
- they could just have it influence your search results from people in your Google friend circle. If one of your friend's +1's sites you don't like, you can always remove them from your friend's list
- Google has a TON of info on you, and can use it to police abuse in the exact same way they monitor abuse of links and websites currently. They can block spammers, etc. What does Google know about you? Take a look here >
www.google.com/dashboard.
Google can tell a fake Google account that was just made, versus an established account. I didn't think Google had that much information on me. I was surprised to see how much they know. Gmail, Google Checkout, G Docs, GA, AdSense, FeedBurner, YouTube, GTalk and more are integrated directly into their dashboard.
Clearly someone who has used Google Checkout even once is a valid person, and someone who has never used any other Google service is likely to be a fake account. How long has the Google account existed? Same idea as the SEO metric for domain age. It is all metrics that can be measured, weighed and valued. Sure it can be abused, but no one is in a better position to handle that abuse then Google.
We can talk back and forth all you want. The fact is, Google +1 is reality. It is here, now, and users can see it. Clearly Google wants to promote it along with their upcoming social network. You can ignore it and let your competing sites use it, or you can embrace the change and join in. I choose the latter option.