The +1 button was first introduced as a way for Google to make results on its own search site more social.

Getting a sturdier footing in the world of social networking is something Google has really focused on in recent months. In fact, Google co-founder Larry Page, who took over as CEO this spring, was quick to tell employees via a memo that their to the company's social media success.

It seems that Google is digging its way out of a social networking hole that Schmidt now admits putting the company into.

Speaking at the AllThingsD conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. yesterday, that he didn't recognize the power of social networking fast enough and didn't react effectively to the rise of Facebook and its popular social network.

In his opening address to the conference, Schmidt said he recognized as many as four years ago that Google had to deal with Facebook and even wrote memos to that effect. However, he admitted that's as far as he took it.