There’s a new social media sheriff in town huh? Big deal, what else is new? It seems like we hear about the next big thing almost every day. So what makes Google+ any more important?
Well, it’s simple. Google made it. And whenever the word “Google” is attached, it’s worth paying attention to. It seems like Google took its time to get this release right as well. Because Google+ includes nearly any avenue through which you would want to communicate with someone, right down to a “Hangout” application that allows users to virtually connect to watch videos, play games, etc. Google+ has also already eclipsed the 10 million user mark in the very short timeframe it has been live (Including me; you can see a snapshot of my basic profile to the left.) And there is no reason to believe that this exponential growth won’t continue. I spoke with a good friend of mine, personal branding expert Dan Schawbel, who explained why he thinks Google+ may prove a sizable competitor to the big players in the social media space, such as Linkedin, Facebook, and namely, Twitter.
1. SEO – Google will index content located on Google+ at a much more effective/efficient rate when compared to other social networks. Facebook doesn’t allow Google access to its content which will make anything posted on Google+ a much more SEO friendly piece of content. This is especially important in the B2B world, where content is King. Facebook will continue to have its place with consumer fan pages, and it’s still undetermined what Google+’s impact will be when they open up corporate accounts later this year. Companies who have already been setting up corporate accounts have noticed that Google is deleting them, citing that the application is not ready to support more than personal users at the moment. Read this article by Stephen Shankland of CNet News for more detail about the corporate account issue.
2. Social Graph – One of the biggest criticisms of Twitter is that it has no social graph, meaning it doesn’t allow the ability to map users to other users. There is no reciprocation needed to ‘connect’ to or ‘follow’ someone. With Facebook and Linkedin, the other user must agree to a connection before you are linked to them, and in doing so – you demonstrate at least a basic relationship with each other. The less controlled Twitter universe creates an environment much more conducive to spam and invalid accounts.
3. Exclusivity – You can’t just join Google+. You must be formally invited from an esteemed member of the Google+ family. OK fine, anyone can join. But it’s true that you must be invited by another member in order to start using the application. You may think that this is a barrier for potential users, but this feigned sense of exclusivity actually makes it more attractive, as people have sought out friends to send them an invite into the ‘Google Club.’ Let’s face it, everyone wants to be included in something secret, even if 10 million other people already know 
the secret.
Does Google+ have the ability to knock any of the other major social players out of the market? It’s probably too early to tell. However, it does appear to be making a lot of noise, and it will be interesting to see how the “Social War” plays out in coming months. In the meantime, it’s another platform that we all need to jump on. It’s also worth mentioning that Google+ invites are driven through Gmail accounts, and if I were a betting man I would put big money on the idea that there are a lot of people running out to sign up for those at the moment.
