Google’s long-rumored, awe-inspiring Facebook-killing social network behemoth was revealed on Tuesday: Google+. And it’s pretty OK. Good even.
The suite of tools forms the building blocks by which Google hopes to stitch together a social graph to compete with Facebook’s. Invites to Google+’s central components and five of its main features are trickling out after a large rush on Wednesday night.
Google has managed expectations admirably, and Facebook still existed as of Friday afternoon. But Google+ is more than it seems. The foundation Google is laying has potential to merge the social and static web until they are practically synonymous.
But maybe you haven’t been poking around Google+ and you’re curious. While you’re waiting for an invite, here’s what you can expect.
Overview
To use Google+, a person must already have a Gmail account with a Google profile. Having your e-mail routed through Gmail with a Google App does not count—it must be a Google account.
The first thing many people will see when using Google+ is the Stream. The Stream, like a Twitter feed or Facebook News Feed, is populated reverse-chronologically with content your friends and connections share with you.
What you share and recommend online will show up in the streams of people who are connected to you, and will also be gathered in an enhanced Google profile page. Google profile pages already exist for many Gmail and other Google property users, but once Google+ is activated the profile will offer more opportunities for someone to share information, including this new sharing stream.
Along with the stream and enhanced Google profiles, Google has announced five other features as part of Google+:
Circles – Circles allow a user to group his of her friends into as many or as few communities as he or she would like. When sharing media or links online, you can then choose exactly with which of your circles you would like to share. It works similarly to Facebook’s lists, but because it is baked-in from launch, should have an almost universal adoption rate.
Hangouts – Hangouts are group video chats. A user can signal they are in a Hangout to a circle or larger group of contacts, which other users can then join to have a video chat. Up to 10 friends can join a Hangout at any one time.
Sparks – Sparks are topics you are interested in that you choose to follow. Each Spark you visit will be populated with stories about that topic, with weight given to what is new and what is most likely to interest you. This will pull from data including what you share and what your friends share, and what you have read in the past.
Instant Uploads – Instant Uploads is a feature by which photos that you take with your phone or other Instant Upload-enabled device is uploaded directly to your Google+ profile. These can be automatically shared with a select circle of your friends that you can curate, so that other circles do not see these images.
Huddle – Huddle is a group texting/messaging application initially launching on Android similar to GroupMe, though it requires a data plan to function rather than relying on the SMS. Huddle pulls from the circles you create so you can have conversations among small groups easily.
Will It Work?
The true test of Google+ will be whether it can integrate all the above features gracefully into a user’s established Web experience. Google+ has the potential to be a large evolution for Google, and the social nature of the tools will permeate all of the company’s platforms.
Recently announced features like the +1 Button, for example, gracefully affect people’s Web experience whether they are a part of Google+ or not (though being a part of the club significantly enhances the button’s utility). The Google-specific Like button works not only on links found within a Google search, but also on items posted into a user’s Stream. More features like this are likely on the horizon (I’m looking at you, Google Wallet).
What will be more important to watch is how large, established Google sites like Gmail and YouTube, Google’s Android smartphone operating system, and the Chrome OS and Web browser begin to exploit the new social philosophy more deeply, and where brands fit into this mix.
What Can I Do Now?
For individuals, snag a Google+ invite and check it out, see if the vocabulary of Google+ suits you better than Twitter’s staccato or Facebook’s deluge.
For brands and organizations, it’s time to make sure you are well-positioned for Google+’s growth:
- Continue SEO and Sharing Efforts: With Google+’s dual focus on traditional search engine algorithms bolstered with social sharing and community graphing, continuing established SEO efforts remains important. Similar to what Facebook is trying to do with Microsoft Bing, we can expect sharing to affect Google search ranking and placement.
- Get +1: After a strange ‘me too’ phase, the benefits of Google’s +1 button for users is starting to take shape, so it should see more use. Integrating the +1 button into pages and sites will be key to improving not only the SEO of a page within the context of a Google search, but also to increasing its reach within Google+ streams going forward.
- Enhance Google Profiles: If you have let any profiles on Google-owned properties (YouTube, Picasa, Blogger, etc.) drift, now is a good time to spruce them up. Focus on making sure all platforms have the most up-to-date profile information and all link to proper home or landing pages.
What to Look Out For
In a best-case scenario, users will flock to Google+, drawn by its tighter ability to control who sees what content and its deep integration into the Android platform. This will allow brands to better marry their social sharing efforts with search engine optimization and non-social discovery in a way which Facebook, Bing, and even Google have tried before without fully succeeding. This will all create a better feedback loop between social sharing and non-social discovery so that each builds on another, driving even more people towards specific content and communities.
In a Google Wave-like scenario, where it turns out Google has moved into a new field too hastily, Google+ will lose significant steam once the initial buzz dies down, and consumers may stay tightly tied to their Facebook profiles.
As is, Google+ isn’t quite the Facebook-killer Google would hope, but it has exciting potential. If Google successfully weaves this new social strategy through its many platforms and tools, the new relationship graph could hasten a sea change in how the web is used.