+1 allows surfers to flag up content they approve of, and that content is then recommended to your friends and other connections. Initially its been limited to search results on Google’s own pages, but the idea has always been to promote it as an alternative to the Facebook “Like” button. What’s been unclear so far is when, exactly, that promotion would take place.

With Clearspring’s gaffe, however, and TechCrunch confirming that they were all set to be under Google embargo until later today, it seems the +1 spread is almost upon us. Whether Google can supplant the “Like”button remains to be seen, but given its dominance in search we wouldn’t be surprised to see it springing up alongside Facebook’s sharing tool across sites very soon.