There is something very Google about the branding. It's a little bit nerdy, very simple, and cool. I like it a lot more than "Like".

"It's a little bit nerdy," is exactly the problem I see with this. They are taking a piece of internet/geek culture and expanding it to my Grandma. My Grandma know what it means to "Like" something, but does she understand "+1"? Probably not.

Did people know what a "googol" was? It doesn't really matter at all in the grand scheme of things.

Well to be fair, Andrex, people still don't know what a 'googol' is. They know 'Google', and what 'Google' means to them is very different from 'googol'.