Google + – Why building your circles is the key to success
After a redesign in April 2012, Google+ is gradually increasing its presence in the vast array of social media. One feature of the social network that stands out from other platforms are ‘Circles’. What are the purpose of Circles? Ultimately to organise people and share information with the relevant target audience. Google state that Circles help you organise your connections “according to your real–life social connections”, therefore enforcing the social aspect that some social media sometimes forget. Creating Circles Google embrace simplicity, reflected in their latest redesign of G+. It is simple to search for people or brands then drag and drop them into the relevant Circles to group them as you wish. ‘Google is working hard to introduce new algorithms to match users based on friend connections and interests, ensuring that it can continue to boost engagement on its network.’ reported The Next Web. Targeting Circles can allow businesses to specifically target content to the appropriate users. Therefore, in theory, people only see the information that is relevant to them and they aren’t exposed to irrelevant posts which could cause annoyance. This could be likely to increase the chances of sharing and interaction. Sharing As well as sharing content with people in your Circles, the Circles themselves can also be shared. So, if you were to create a specific Circle containing news sources for a particular field, then this could be shared with another Circle of people who would be interested and find it of value. Transparency Circles can also be used for businesses to display their employees publicly and to communicate with them. The employees Circle implies transparency online and can make the experience more personal for users. Building Circles and being connected to a large number of other people’s Circles is one way to try and get your business profile ‘verified’. The advantage of this is that as usernames cannot currently be secured on Google+, duplicate pages can be created by anyone. If a page is verified then it demonstrates authority given from Google. Join in Targeting Circles effectively with interesting and engaging content can give people a reason to want to share and involve themselves, therefore boosting your profile. Integration with your website, blog, or other platforms can increase awareness and encourage users to add you to their Circles. The introduction of the Facebook style cover image provides more of an opportunity to personalise your Google+ profile and make it more attractive so it catches the attention of passers by, possibly provoking interaction. Search Earlier this year, Google launched “Search, Plus Your World”. When Google+ users are logged into their account then their Google search results will be enriched with relevant information shared on Google+ by their connections. Influencers Each post on Google+ has the option to view its ‘ripples’, in other words how the post spread through the platform from user sharing and re-sharing. This assists in the identification of key influencers that you might wish to add to your circles and interact with. Google+ Circles are an integral asset to the platform for building relationships, sharing information and improving transparency. For brands, building their Circles is one way to try and get their page verified, therefore increasing authenticity and making it easier for the page to be discovered. Each time Google+ updates or redesigns, the usability and functionality improves. So what is next for the platform? Jennie Stamp is a Social Media Executive at Yard Digital in Edinburgh
Does Google PLUS really add to our world?
It looks like Facebook. It’s blurb sounds like Facebook. If you got up close, it probably even smell’s like Facebook, but this is Google entering the social networking arena…again. A select band of people (were you one?) were this week invited into Google’s latest project – a social networking service called Google PLUS. Those selected few will also soon be able to invite others and the idea is to let people share and discuss status updates, photos and links as you would in Facebook but in a more intimate group. Small groups or ‘Circles’ is the focus – colleagues, best mates, sportsteam teammates etc – and for that purpose there are group text messaging and video chat facilities built into the network. The Google line is it is more like real life, you have more control and more privacy: “In real life, we have walls and windows and I can speak to you knowing who’s in the room, but in the online world, you get to a ‘Share’ box and you share with the whole world,” said Bradley Horowitz, a vice president of product management at Google. Pitched by anybody else and actually it probably sounds like a poor-imitation of what is already out there. Yet this is Google saying this and backing the project so people will sit up and take notice. The biggest issue is whether the heavily scientific and engineered approach that has seen Google become so successful using algorithms and data analysis, can be converted to a more touchy-feely and informal approach that social networking thrives on. What Google hopes is that people will sign up with PLUS to enable them to get at least some insight into the valuable world that is developing in social networks in terms of advertising data and trends that so often is not accessible to Google’s search robots or experts. The ‘reality’ approach includes an attempt to mimic those occasions when people want to be your friend when you don’t really care. Unlike on Facebook, people do not have to agree to be friends with one another. Via your circles however you can have greater control over who sees what about you. So you effectively get more than one persona. The multiple personality aspect is promoted as a benefit and can offer greater control, but could also offer its own difficulties and dangers of course. The potential winner as we see it at the moment is ‘Sparks’ which is a push type notification of “what you’re into and … stuff it thinks you’ll like”. It may sound a bit Big Brotheresque but the viral aspect and shared interests appeal of Twitter and Facebook could be amplified by this tool. Google has of course launched big ideas before and then slowly retreated but expect it to push and bang the drum on this one more and more as the year progresses and they tweak based on feedback from a growing user base. Have you had an invite to Google PLUS? Have you taken the plunge? What are your thoughts?