Google Plus

[r.e.]

I signed up for it a couple of weeks ago. Works quite differently from Facebook Pages. So far I like it. Curious to know whether other people here are exploring Google+ and your impressions.

Cheers.

P.S. While Google+ is theoretically not yet public, each member has 150 invitations to give out and there are said to be about 25 million people signed up already.

[Kirk Gittings]

just curious why this is posted here rather than the Lounge. Is this headed for a discussion of Google+ as a marketing venue?

[r.e.]

just curious why this is posted here rather than the Lounge. Is this headed for a discussion of Google+ as a marketing venue?

Yes.

A couple of months ago, I set up Tumblr, Facebook Page and Twitter accounts for a friend who was starting a business. I am at this point convinced that social media are an extremely important part of marketing. They provide a platform for marketing and communicating with current and potential clients that is qualitatively different from what can be done with a static web site or blog. Google+ is Google's attempt to take on Facebook, and I think that anyone who is using a Facebook Page (as distinct from a personal page) for marketing should be exploring it. One of the early trends on Google+ is that it is attracting a lot of photographers, possibly because it is more graphic friendly than Facebook.

However, if you want to move this to the Lounge, it is of course up to you.

Cheers

[Darin Boville]

Can someone invite me? I'd like to check it out. I do a little "marketing" on Facebook which has been fun.

--Darin

[r.e.]

Re Facebook, maybe I should explain what a Facebook Page is. They are used by businesses and individuals who want to create a Facebook presence that is public. Facebook Pages are completely different from the traditional Facebook site, which is essentially a site for oneself and one's friends.

Google+ handles this differently. So far, at least, it does not distinguish between private and public accounts. Members have one account, with the option, on a post by post basis, of restricting their content to particular groups of individuals that they have defined, or making their content public.

[Sean Galbraith]

Me on google plus:
https://plus.google.com/108306073756639379939

If anyone wants an invitation, send me your email address and I'll send you one.

[Brian C. Miller]

Me on google plus:
https://plus.google.com/108306073756639379939

I normally run with JavaScript turned off, and that Google page came up blank! I thought there would have been some content, but there's nothing! Wow, all of the content is behind JavaScript.

[SamReeves]

After the initial release of G+, I have only one friend who is still posting there. Google tried this before, and didn't make it when Facebook rolled out another update of features.

Too much social networking!!

[Mike Anderson]

I normally run with JavaScript turned off, and that Google page came up blank! I thought there would have been some content, but there's nothing! Wow, all of the content is behind JavaScript.

I bet when it's really released (not beta or "field testing") it will have some functionality w/o JavaScript. Of course it will be fairly crippled, but there will be something there.

...Mike

[r.e.]

Note Mr. Galbraith's URL. Google+, unlike Facebook Page, is not yet offering individualized URLs, e.g. plus.google.com/SeanGalbraith. It is likely that Google will offer this when Google+ goes public.

In the meantime, I think that Google+ members should establish a Google account/profile using the name that they want in their URL, especially if nobody else has their preferred name. There are a couple of workarounds for a short URL for Google+ (including a web service specifically created to make these URLs), but I think that there are drawbacks and personally I've decided to wait for Google to offer them.