Is Google+ Really An Addition To Your Social Platform?

A friend of mine recently sent me an invitation to Google+, the new social media platform by Google.  At first, I cringed with the thought of having yet another social media platform that needed to be monitored, updated and coddled.  Aren’t my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, blog and YouTube accounts enough?  Do I really need Google+?  How did I tell people things before the Internet?

This is where I’d like to tell you I stayed true to my convictions and politely turned down the invitation to Google+.  But my curiosity chased my convictions to the curb and I joined Google+.   The whole premise of Google+ is that it wants to basically combine the best of all of the current social media platforms and turn them into one Uber-platform, like Facebook on steroids.

I’m still kind of learning my way around Google+, there are a few interesting features that I like.

Hangouts:  if you have a webcam and more importantly you look camera ready at all times, you can form a virtual chat room or “hangout” with your contacts.  From an agency and marketer perspective, this could be a great internal communications tool – allowing you to video chat with different locations and/or clients/vendors.  Instead of making sure all parties have downloaded the appropriate software, all you need for this is a webcam and the ubiquitous Google.  Who doesn’t Google?

Sparks:  this is similar to Google Reader.  It allows you to add whatever topics you are interested in to your feed, such as my first spark, Miami Redhawks Hockey.   By clicking on that “spark,” a list of current articles related to Miami Redhawks Hockey pops up.  Similar to Facebook, then you can +1 (Facebook “Like”) an article and share it with your contacts.   This will have interesting implications for marketers when Google+ is available to businesses – which is currently is not.  You’ll have to keep reading though to find out why I think it will be interesting for marketers.

Circles:  unlike Facebook, you can organize your contacts into different groups, “circles,” and share information with only certain circles.  At first I didn’t understand why this was important, isn’t segregation bad?  Then I saw this picture that pretty much sums it all up.

Hallelujah!  There have been times where I’ve wanted to share things on my Facebook page, but have refrained because I don’t want certain people to see it.  On Google+, you can select which groups of people receive what information.

Think of it as direct marketing to your friends.  You can customize the spam you send them because remember for every baby photo you send to me, I’m sending you some kind of hockey article back.

OK, not really, but for those of you who are tired of my hockey sharing, I can now share hockey-related information specifically with my hockey friends.  I can share my foodie recipe information with my friends who like to cook – or at least eat my cooking.

I can now make sure my Mom never sees those photos from college some of you are scanning and uploading onto Facebook and tagging me in without my consent – emphasis on the without my consent.  You can also assign people to more than one circle – so they can potentially receive my spam twice.

I think this has some very exciting potential for marketers.  Think of all of your Facebook fans and imagine being able to put them into customized circles and being able to send them content that is specifically relevant to their needs.   You could even give them the opportunity to self-select which circle they would like to join.

But this sounds hard and like it would be a lot of work, right?  Seriously, 20,000 people like me on Facebook and I just had three retweets yesterday, isn’t that enough for you people?

Well, here is something interesting that retailer REI is doing, decentralizing its Twitter account so that it’s more regional in focus. This allows REI to customize which Twitter followers receive what information.  Now when Google+ is available for businesses*, it could just put followers into regionally-specific circles, thus allowing them to receive relevant information without having to depend on multiple people generating content.  Now your CEO doesn’t have to worry about what yahoo is out there, spreading information about his company on that Twitter board.  With Circles, you can maintain control over your message and which audiences are receiving it.

I am sure there will be more changes as Google+ works out some of the kinks, but so far it does show some promise.  I’ve had a lot of fun with the circles, creating groups such as Dirty Joke Friends, Canadians (I like to spam them with Pro-USA articles) and Family (which is empty currently and will stay empty if I don’t tell my Mom about it like I did Facebook).  So I encourage you to check it out personally if you get an invite because I think it will have some positive applications for marketers in the near future.

*As you may already be aware, Google is not allowing businesses on Google+ at the moment.