A Simple Guide to Google Plus

Thursday, August 4, 2011

What  is  Google  Plus?

• Google Plus was launched on June 28, 2011. Similar to Facebook, it is described as Google’s version of the social network.

• Google+ attracted 25 million users in less than one month. Facebook and Twitter did not see that many users for nearly three years.

• Google Plus is a mix of social products including a newsfeed, recommendation engine, video chat, group texting service and a contact management service.

Google  Plus  is  Google’s  answer  to  the  social  network.

www.plus.google.com

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Components  of  Google  Plus

•  +Circles-­‐Manages  your  contacts

•  +Sparks-­‐Manages  your  interests  and  content  

•  +Hangouts-­‐Group  video  chat

•  +Huddle-­‐Group  text  messages

Thursday, August 4, 2011

CirclesCircles  are  a  way  to  manage  and  organize  your  contacts  

Your  contacts  receive  a  no@fica@on  when  you  add  them  to  one  of  your  circles,  but  they  cannot  see  which  circle  

you  have  added  them  to.Thursday, August 4, 2011

SparksGoogle+  Sparks  are  similar  to  the  fan  pages  you  like  on  

Facebook.  Topics  you  add  to  Sparks  show  up  in  your  Google+  stream  (newsfeed)  and  allow  you  to  share  arAcles  with  your  

circles

www.plus.google.com

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Hangouts

• Hangouts  is  a  video  chat  component  within  Google+.

• You  can  let  specific  circles  know  you  are  “hanging  out”  and  see  who  drops  by  to  chat,  without  anyone  ini@a@ng  the  conversa@on.

• Hangouts  allows  you  to  chat  with  up  to  10  people  at  one  @me.

See Hangouts in Action

www.plus.google.com

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Huddles

Huddle  is  an  app  for  Google+  users  that  allows  you  to  turn  individual  conversa@ons  into  one  group  chat  session

Google+ Huddle Demowww.plus.google.com

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Huddles

Huddle  is  an  app  for  Google+  users  that  allows  you  to  turn  individual  conversa@ons  into  one  group  chat  session

Google+ Huddle Demowww.plus.google.com

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Google  +1

•Websites,  blogs  and  content  shared  or  created  by  your  friends

•Web  content  that  has  been  recommended  or  shared  by  others  using  +1  buLon.

If  you  are  signed  into  Google+,  your  search  results  may  highlight  relevant  content  that  is  created  or  shared  by  your  

social  connecAons.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Google  +1• The  +1  buLon  publicly  shows  content  and  websites  you  recommend  on  the  web.  It  can  appear  in  a  variety  of  places  including  on  Google  and  on  sites  across  the  web.  

• Your  +1’s  and  your  social  connec@ons  directly  relate  to  your  Google+  stream,  and  content  you  see  in  Google  Search.

• Recommenda@ons  from  people  in  your  Google+  Circles,  Gmail  contacts  and  people  you  follow  on  Google  Reader  and  Buzz.

• Your  +1s  appear  across  the  web  as  annota@ons  on  the  content  you  recommend.  It  also  appears  in  a  tab  on  your  Google+  profile,  allowing  you  to  manage  your  list  and  control  who  sees  it.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Google+  Stats

■ 56%  of  Google+’s  upstream  traffic  came  from  other  Google  proper@es  last  week,  with  34%  of  that  traffic  coming  from  Google.com.  And  37%  of  its  upstream  traffic  came  from  search  engines,  while  21%  of  its  traffic  was  driven  by  email

■ Google+  is  dominated  by  young  adults.  Its  biggest  age  group  for  the  four  weeks  ending  July  14  was  the  25-­‐34  age  bracket,  which  accounted  for  38.37%  of  all  visits.  The  week  before,  the  en@re  18-­‐34  age  bracket  made  up  just  38.11%  of  total  visitors.

■ Los  Angeles,  New  York  City  and  San  Francisco  are  the  most  dominant  metropolitan  areas  driving  traffic  to  Google+.  Aus@n,  TX  was  the  most  dominant  city  for  the  plaborm  most  recently.

As  of  July  16,  Google+  is  the  42nd  most-­‐visited  social  networking  site  in  the  U.S.  and  the  638th  most-­‐visited  site  on  the  web

www.plus.google.com

Thursday, August 4, 2011

What about Google+ business pages?

• Google  has  asked  businesses  not  to  sign  up  for  Google+  just  yet,  because  they  are  working  on  creaAng  pages  for  businesses  similar  to  pages  on  Facebook.

• Businesses  could  fill  out  a  form  online  for  consideraAon  to  test  new  business  features  on  Google+  first-­‐allowing  certain  businesses  to  test  the  new  beta  version.  

• Word  on  the  street  is  that  a  promising  feature  for  marketers  will  be  using  Sparks  to  posiAon  their  content  to  appear  in  the  feed  for  certain  terms  just  like  websites  appear  near  the  top  on  Google  search  results.  This  cannot  be  done  yet  because  Google  has  yet  to  reveal  how  they  determine  which  stories  are  presented  on  Sparks.

• Google+  for  businesses  is  coming  by  the  end  of  the  year  according  to  Google,  it  is  just  a  maSer  of  making  the  plaTorm  relevant  and  useful  for  businesses  first.

Thursday, August 4, 2011