Google Plus: What Is It (And Why Does It Matter)?
I’m kind of behind in the times on this (be kind, I’m jumping back on the blogging bandwagon) but have you recently noticed a black bar above your Google screen or seen ads mentioning Google+?
It’s a new product that Google has put out and a few people have asked me what it’s all about– here’s a primer.
Quite simply, Google+ is Google’s attempt to create not just a social product, but a cohesive interface through which consumers view the web. Ambitious? Absolutely. Will it work? Only time will tell, but the project’s founders, Vic Gundotra and Bradley Horowitz, strongly believe that the product will solve some enormous existing marketplace problems:
“We believe online sharing is broken. And even awkward,” Gundotra says. “We think connecting with other people is a basic human need. We do it all the time in real life, but our online tools are rigid. They force us into buckets — or into being completely public,” he continues. “Real life sharing is nuanced and rich. It has been hard to get that into software.”
But what does it do? And what are all these buttons?
- Google+ has Circles, which let you group your contacts for optimal sharing. The interface is very simple– drag and drop– and is meant to be an easy way to organize your friends into different groups based on how you know them, interests, etc. (It’s much easier than creating a group within Facebook, that much is sure).
- +Sparks is like an RSS feed, except it finds the content for you based on your interests. Each topic you choose gets its own “Spark” page and provides links to articles, pictures, etc.
- +Hangouts allow you to notify people that you’re around and free to video chat. Hangouts are meant to be the front porch of Google+ (and that’s a direct quote from Google, by the way).
- +Mobile allows you to share content on-the-go in an easy and seamless way. Depending on your settings, Google+ can identify where you are, post it and enable people to comment on it. There’s also an instant upload picture option which is nice if you’re tired of having to manually upload pictures via Facebook.
It’s still new, but has the potential to be a digital game-changer. Google is still trying to figure out what this means for Business Profiles, but in the meantime, check out “3 Easy Ways to Optimize Google Plus and Promote Your Personal Brand” by my Resolution Media coworker Aaron Friedman. Highly recommended, and not just as a cheesy plug.
