So, unless you’ve been completely disconnected for the last few weeks, you will have likely heard about Google+. This is Google’s latest attempt at breaking through in the very competitive and rapidly expanding social media realm. It’s not their first attempt mind you, but we won’t go into too much detail about Wave, Buzz and their other… let’s call them.. experiments.

They have quite a lot more invested in this project though, and have gone as far as planning to rename the incredibly popular Picasa and Blogger websites to Google Photos and Google Blogs, respectively. Last time we looked this change hadn’t gone through, but it’s planned to happen during the public launch of Google+, since it is still in invite-only beta stage.

Getting an invite however, is as easy as asking one of the over 20 million current users (as of July 19th, 2011)  for one of their unlimited invites. I had approximately 50 coworkers, family members and friends up and running within a few days. NOTE : In fact, leave a comment on this blog post and I would be happy to extend an invite.

After 10 days of frequent use, I have had a great deal of fun using Google+ but it’s not perfect. Here are some of my Pros/Cons.

Great features of Google+ 

• Integration With Other Google Tools.
  When you  want to share a video on Facebook, you need to either have the link ready, or upload the actual video to Facebook. With Google+ it not only features the option to add a video link, but you can also search and post directly from Youtube, or add videos from your cellphone (provided you are using the Instant Upload feature).
  
• That Amazing Notifications Bar.
  The updated toolbar that is present in nearly every Google tool has deep integration of Google+ Notifications. Not only can you check your Google+ notifications while reading your Gmail, but you can comment or +1 the comments without having to visit the Google+ site itself.

  

• Already A Google user? You’re Ready To Go.
  I have been a Google user (or… Google super nerd, Google Poster Boy, etc., depending on who you ask) for as long as I can remember. My phone is running Android, I have been using Gmail forever, my Contacts have been stored on Google’s servers since I got my phone, my Calendars, both personal and professional are, well…. you get the picture. Anyways, upon setting up my Google+ account, I was greeted with a list of contacts taken from my Google Contacts, making it very easy to invite everyone. My Picasa photos were automatically linked up to share, and I can only imagine what else will be enabled in the coming months.
• The Mobile App Might Be Basic, But It’s Already Great
  Last time I checked, mobile usage is growing. Having an app to compliment the great online service seemed obvious and Google doesn’t disappoint. Nearly everything you can do on the browser version can be done on the Google+ mobile app. In fact, the ability to have photos, videos and chats are makes even more sense on a mobile device, while you’re out and about.

Room For Improvement 

While not so much technical aspects of the service itself, there are potential roadblocks that could severely hinder any possibility for future success of Google+.

• Where is everyone?
  At last count, I had 75 people in my circles, however it seems as if only 3 people are actually using it. Don’t get me wrong, I am completely thrilled with every word they type (Hopefully they are reading this), but it would be nice to see a more engaged group. I’m sure this is something that will happen over time but it puts a damper on an otherwise very solid platform.
• The big blue elephant in the room.
  With Facebook amazingly continuing to increase its userbase to now over 700 million, it seems that nothing can possibly get in its way. Google doesn’t just have a hill to climb, it has to find a way to catch up with a speeding train with no signs of slowing down.
• No Business Support (Yet.)
  There is an ‘entity’ request form available for businesses, but until then there is no sign of how the business accounts will appear to the public. One of the issues I’ve found with Facebook is the occasional business account that posts dozens of times a day, cluttering the news feed (my apologies if you feel that way about us!). Keeping business accounts separate is a great idea.

Released to the public in early 2010, Buzz was Google’s first true attempt at entering the social media realm.

It integrated a number of different services into one stream. These services included Twitter and Flickr as well as well as the range of Google products such as YouTube, Blogger, Reader, Latitude, Picasa and others. It had a lot of potential, and seemed like a great way for Google to get their foot in the door. I mean, why wouldn’t it work?

You may have noticed I’m referring to Buzz in the past tense. This is because in my eyes, and in the eyes of many others… it’s dead. There were even reports of it being dead right out of the gate.

The reasons it died so quickly? Well for starters, at the time of its release privacy was a bigger concern than ever before. Facebook had a similar issue which as you may remember, caused the massive user exodus (well, that was the plan anyways). However in Google’s case, they managed to display user contacts publicly, without consent from the user. This was later fixed, but not before major damage was done.

Also, it never really had an identity of its own. Launched as an extension of sorts to the incredibly popular Gmail, it never seemed like it could stand on its own two legs as a social media platform. Getting all of your friends to setup ANOTHER new account also didn’t help. Sure, you could integrate your existing Google account with Buzz, but it still wasn’t easy enough for quick adoption.

In addition to this, major tech blogs have removed Buzz entirely from their social media efforts, receiving almost no complaints. The service has simply failed to find a footing in the already overcrowded ‘sharing’ market.

The one remaining light in the otherwise dark abyss that is Google Buzz (yikes, that sounds harsh…) is its integration with Google Maps on mobile devices. I found the interface to be very intuitive and couldn’t believe it when I saw others using it nearby. Used solely as a Google Maps and Google Latitude extension, I truly believe Buzz could catch on. But Google needs to figure out where it fits in their master plan.

I applaud Google for trying new things, and even if they fail, they manage to create something new or put their own unique spin on an existing idea. We saw it before with Wave, and now with Buzz. There are always elements of their new tools that can be implemented within other services, so I can’t wait to see what they come up with next!

Read some of our related posts :

• “Say No To Spam!” – Regards, Google
• Is Mobile Marketing Important?

By now, everyone has signed up for a Twitter account to give your status updates, Flickr to share your images or photos, YouTube to share your videos, WordPress or Blogger to post articles or further status updates and then Digg/Reddit/Fark/etc. to post links to your blog. The list go on and on, with literally hundreds of these types of sites offering social networking services.

The question herein lies, is this of any use to your business? The answer is, potentially, yes. The ease of which these services allow you to create content is incredible and is one of the driving factors behind their explosive growth. The other being the extensive reach they have, with the ability to reach potentially anyone in the world with the click of a button.

Jumping in head first is never a good approach, this being no different. If you don’t have anything interesting to talk about, I hate to say this, but don’t bother, your time can be spent much better elsewhere.

If your company deals with recreation, technology or entertainment on any level, social networking becomes much more relevant, as those industries generally have a steady stream of new and interesting topics.

Last but not least, unless you plan on updating these services on at least a somewhat frequent basis, again… don’t bother. Gathering new viewers is difficult enough, give them something to hang around for.

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