I don’t know about you, but I am always skeptical when I hear about the next great social network being rolled out by Google. If you keep throwing darts at the dartboard, and you keep hitting the wall, don’t you think you’d stop throwing darts?
Google has failed miserably with Orkut and Google Buzz. Now, they are rolling out a more robust platform that includes the +1 button and Google+, a social network that tries to take what works best for Facebook and Twitter and make it better for a certain niche of social network drones. By the way, don’t make a comment to me that Orkut is big in South America, so therefore, it’s a success. I guarantee Google’s intention when they rolled it out was NOT for it to get big in South America.
Google +1 Button
This was the first piece to the puzzle of this new social network that Google put together. It’s a pretty nice concept. Google found a way to make search results social. The +1 button allows anyone logged into a Google account to +1 a search result they like or found useful, and Google remembers it to help deliver more and more relevant information in the future.
The +1 button is supposed to have SEO implications for those on the other side of the spectrum looking to have their website +1′ed. Those SEO benefits are still undefined, but my recommendation is that you add it to your website, because it can’t hurt it at this point.
Google Plus Social Network
So in true Google fashion, they made the new product available by “invitation only” to make people feel special if they got invite to join it. I wonder who perfected the exclusivity marketing tactic first, Google or Apple?
Google+ has a couple of unique features, Circles and Hangouts. Circles is a feature of Google Plus that allows you to connect and segment the different groups of people in your life. Circles allows you to choose which information to share with your friends, family, and professional connections.
Hangouts is an innovative feature that allows you to group video chat with up to 10 other people — for FREE. Google is trying to virtually simulate the experience of bumping into someone in real life by making video chat easy and convenient. Hangouts could also become a popular tool for small and large businesses to run more interactive conference calls and meetings.
I’m a part of Google+, but I haven’t used it much yet. However, I am intrigued by the fact that I can segment out my network as much or little as I want, which is annoying with Facebook. If I want to share something with just my best friends, I can. If I want to leave out my co-workers, I can. I think it has promise, but I am still a little skeptical, because so far, Google and social haven’t mixed well.
