Supporting the Open Graph Protocol (OGP) is important if you care how a page is displayed in a Social Networking Site (SNS) like one of the big three Facebook, Google+, or Twitter. But if you are a content site, it is crucial.
To illustrate, here are examples of pages that do not have OGP implemented:
Google+
And here are the same examples of sites that do have OGP implemented:
Google+
Simple Implementation
The nice part is that you do not really have to implement everything to make OGP work for you. With the exception of Twitter, who adds a few extra tags, they all use the same basic tags. Here is the example using the New York Times article we have been using so far:
<meta property="og:url" content="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/18/business/as-boom-lures-app-creators-tough-part-is-making-a-living.html?pagewanted=all"/>
<meta property="og:type" content="article"/>
<meta property="og:title" content="As Boom Lures App Creators, Tough Part Is Making a Living"/>
<meta property="og:description" content="App developers have turned cellphones and tablets into powerful tools, spawning a multibillion-dollar industry but making huge sacrifices in the process.">
<meta property="og:image" content="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/11/18/us/jp-apps-3/jp-apps-3-superJumbo.jpg"/>
And the Twitter Cards tags:
<meta name="twitter:card" value="summary">
<meta name="twitter:site" value="@nytimes">
And that is all there is to it. But the impact on engagement is certainly going to go up when pages are shared with tags in a stream versus without them. Remember it’s all about getting someones attention and you are competing with everyone else for that attention.