Website Design Blog

Hang out with Google+

More interactive than Twitter? More flexible than Facebook? The ‘new kid on the block’.

New social networking service Google+ has just been released to the rest of the world (the US has had it for 3 months) and pits itself against rival Facebook. Currently it’s only available to private users but business integration is planned in the very near future so get ready for the “land grab” of business usernames to stake your claim and expand your brand online. But what features does Google+ have that could benefit your business and improve on Facebook's current offerings?

So, at the moment, Google+ is only available to private users. You can’t even create a sly pseudo business account as Google will delete it. But Google+ will soon be accessible to businesses and it’s important that we know how to use it for the benefit of our clients and customers.

Google+ offers a facility called “circles”, indeed, the whole application is built around these so called circles which enable you to clearly separate your connections into tidy groups. Just like in the physical world where we have our “circle” of friends and the business “circle” in which we operate, we will now be able to categorise our connections in the same way online. Examples of how this could work could be circles for customers, suppliers, clients, prospects etc. It’s a very simple concept but somehow missing from Facebook and the like.

With facilities such as Twitter we either have to create separate accounts for private tweeting and one for business tweeting, or we use the one account and send our messages indiscriminately, thus risking looking unprofessional. But with Google+ it will also be possible to use the circles we’ve created to select who we communicate with at any one time, sending non-business updates to friends and family and business updates to customers and/or clients. You can also choose who to display circles to, ensuring the separation of personal and private life is complete. It’s amazing how the facility to separate connections enables so much flexibility in how the application can be utilised for business, compared with the competition.

Additionally Google+ has a cool feature called “hangouts” (Most likely available to business users soon) which allows groups of up to 10 Google+ users to meet up via live video and “hang out”. Well, it doesn’t take much imagination to identify the potential uses of this awesome feature for business. Hangouts can be used through a PC and iPhones and androids, so literally you can conference call or hold meetings anywhere and at any time. FOR FREE!!

Keep your eyes peeled for the introduction of Google+ for business, claim your business vanity URL and get it working for the benefit of your business and customers.

If you already have any type of Google account you can just sign in and add it as an account feature. But remember, at the moment it’s only for personal use, but why not give it a test drive?

Links:

Google+

BBC video report on Google+