Googling for Networking

                                                  

Prior to the social media class, I have never heard of Google+, or the fact that it is a social networking site that has amassed approximately 40 million users already. Google+ was launched in June of 2011 to act as a rival to Facebook and the project was led by Google’s Senior Vice President of Social, Vic Gundotra. The social media site is coined “Google plus” because it is viewed as an extension of Google itself. After doing some research, I found that Google+ is not the first time the company has tapped into the world of social media.

According to the website, http://mashable.com/2011/07/16/google-plus-guide/#fNFyYTR32qq2, Google actually created Orkut, another social media site that was launched in 2004. There were also other disasters of attempts like in Google Wave and Google Buzz. The most successful social media site Google has is Youtube, which was acquired in 2006. I previously was not aware that Google owned Youtube.

Upon making an account with Google+, I was glad to see that I could easily connect my profile or username with my Gmail account. I appreciate the ability to integrate other social networking sites or other emails with my social media. After logging on and beginning to create a profile, I found the privacy to be pretty top-notch within the site. Privacy is very important to me so looking at the privacy of each social media site I log on to is one of the first things I do.

                                        

Comparatively speaking, Google+ was significantly harder to navigate than other social media sites I’ve been exposed to. With that being said, I also took in to consideration that I had never been familiar with the site prior to this time.  I remember having difficulty with Facebook and Twitter as well, so I’m assuming with time, maneuvering Google+ will become easier.

The most confusing aspect was getting used to the Circles feature. I was very confused with the concept as far as being able to communicate with JUST a particular set of people. It seemed like a fancy and overcomplicated way to group message, but after I learned how to create a “circle”, it was fine, just as my earlier assumption. Similarly to Facebook, Google+ has a newsfeed, friend recommendations and a phenomenal search bar option. Hangouts or the video chat option is what defines Google+ in my mind. That ability differs greatly from the features of Facebook, which is a nice change.

In terms of business opportunities with Google+, companies are able to make “pages” similar to that of Facebook where businesses can create a page that advertises and markets their businesses. Advertisements are also popular on the newsfeed. Adding a “+” before searching for the company name shows support towards a particular brand, which a beneficial tool to help businesses decipher which people are customers and which people may be potential followers of a business. Overall, I would deem Google+ a beneficial social media site to promote a business. The only aspect I consider to be a downfall is the fact that there are more people on other social networking sites compared to Google+.