John Cloys

In only one month, Google+ has become the fastest growing social network site in history. With twenty-five million users, Google+ is comprised of a diverse demographic user base, ranging from celebrities, political figures, and the average social media junkie.

As an active user, I see a great deal of potential for the personal branding, network mapping and collaboration that Google+ offers to its users. Google+ has presented itself as a one-stop hub, combining functions used in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Recognizing Google+ as a unique way of connecting and sharing information, and appropriately utilizing its numerous functions will help you advance your overall marketing and social media strategy.

How is Google+ different, you ask? It is a one-stop shop. 

From the beginning, Google’s developers ingeniously built the entire Google brand. They started with a search engine that quickly became so mainstream, a verb was created: “Hold on, I’ll Google it.”

Then they ventured into email by invite-only, creating exclusivity and elite access. After engaging the public with these two services, Google then branched out, developing Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Voice, and a slew of products that helped users simplify their lives.

All of these innovations paved the way for Google+, which allows you to combine all aspects of your life on the web: email, search capability, productivity, shopping, and finally, social networking. However, Google+ sets itself apart from established popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, not because it offers a myriad of other functions, but it provides an accessible way to segregate and target your network in a unique fashion.

“Circles,” a creation of Google+, allow you to categorize your contacts, share interests, internet finds, and daily activities.

A “huddle” creates a chatroom or text conversations that include members from entire “circles.”

“Hangouts,” a self-explanatory function, allow you to bring multiple people into a video chat, which is supposed to make internet “hanging out” feel more natural and user controlled.

You can search for and add interests to your profile, and people who share the same, sometimes obscure or bizarre interests can then “spark” a conversation.

Finally, “instant upload” takes your pictures from you Picasa account and automatically uploads them to your Google account for all your approved friends to see.

As a nonprofit organization or individual artist, these functions allow you to communicate differently, customize your constituent database, and provide information and updates in a new and exciting manner.

Google+ provides a new environment in which you can engage with your customers and patrons in a way that connects the missing link in the social networking chain.

While Google+ is not a replacement for human interaction, it is instead a tool to gather thoughts and ideas and ultimately guide you in building online connections and relationships.

Google has already made great strides in providing online functionality for their customers and businesses alike. However, I am curious to see what other solutions and tools Google will develop and integrate into this established communication platform in the future.

It is clear that Google is making a major push into the social networking arena. Similar to other social sites in their early months, Google+ is growing at a rapid pace, I am also curious to see what additional tools Google will develop or tweak to integrate, leverage, and sustain this growth to keep the momentum going.

Are you currently using Google+? As an individual and/or organization? What are your +1s or -1s (likes and dislikes)?