Review by Stacy Zemon - Publisher & Chief Scribe
A few days ago I received an email from Jason Jani (Google+). Unopened it read:
“Sharing the progress of the new SCE Event…”
What’s Google+? I opened the email and found out.
It read:
Jason Jani shared a post with you on Google+. Google+ makes sharing on the web more like sharing in real life. Learn more. Join Google+.”
Underneath that, it had a photo of Jason and read:
Sharing the progress of the new SCE Event Group HQ - coming 2-1-12 West Long Branch NJ. You received this message because Jason Jani shared it with [email protected]. Unsubscribe from these emails.”
I clicked on:
View or comment on Jason Jani’s post”
A Google+ page opened up with a large photo and 5 thumbnails of Jason’s new office space under construction. The text read:
Sharing the progress of the new SCE Event Group HQ - coming 2-1-12 West Long Branch NJ.”
So why did Jason send this to me and others? Well, it seems obvious that he’s excited about his new headquarters, and wanted to share the construction process with colleagues, as well as past and future clients.
Jason was being “social,” and we DJs should always be on the lookout for new ways to market our services in a social manner.
So, what’s Google+ all about, and why is it worth paying attention to? Google+ calls itself “Real-life sharing, rethought for the web.” Let’s take a look at what it offers you.
A Look Inside Google+
Google+ makes connecting on the web more like connecting in the real world. Share your thoughts, links and photos with the right circles. Use easy, spontaneous video chat to strike up conversations with as many as nine people at once. Get everyone on the same page with fast, simple group chat. We’re very excited about the new approach to sharing we’ve created through Google+, but this is really just the beginning.
Circles
You share different things with different people. But sharing the right stuff with the right people shouldn’t be a hassle. Circles make it easy to put your friends from Saturday night in one circle, your parents in another, and your boss in a circle by himself, just like real life.
Hangouts
Bumping into friends while you’re out is one of the best parts of going out and about. With Hangouts, spontaneity hits the web. Whether you’re home in your pajamas or hitting the streets with your mobile phone, video hangouts let you bring up to 9 people into your world. It’s the next best thing to everyone being there.
Search
What was that restaurant your friend was raving about last week? Who’s got some good tips on ballroom dancing? What’s it like to be at the World Cup? Search brings you updates from your circles, news from around the web and public Google+ posts, giving you instant access to the topics you care about and the people who care about them along with you.
Mobile Instant Upload
Taking photos is fun. Sharing photos is fun. Getting photos off your phone and on to the web is pretty much the opposite of fun. That’s why we created Instant Upload: so that you never have to worry about losing those memories. From now on, your photos upload themselves.
Coordinating friends can be hard, especially if you’re trying to text a bunch of people at once. Messenger brings all those separate conversations into one simple group chat, so everyone is on the same page with no hassle.
Games
Google+ has a game room. Play poker, build a new civilization, humiliate a pig, or just click wildly at anything that moves. When you do something worth talking about, it’s easy to share it just with the people interested in your gaming updates. Beating a friend’s high score is always a good excuse to say hi.
In My Opinion
At first glance many people will dismiss Google+ as redundant and derivative of Twitter and Facebook. I however, give it a “thumbs up.”
Content control is centric to Google’s approach, and one that much more closely reflects everyday life. After all, you aren’t going to have the same conversations with your fellow DJs as you have with your family members or old school chums, right?
Circles allows a simplistic implementation of this that I think is going to help not only grow the usage of the service, but actually result in migrations away from other platforms.
There is excellent content control. Personally, I like the idea of being able to create circles, and then share only the content that’s appropriate for the people in each circle. I think this tailored feature will increase the likelihood of people engaging with you.
The Android application is also impressive, with a focus on location based data ‘nearby’ I can easily see at a glance the sort of thing I ordinarily would have turned to Twitter for. It takes elements and strengths from each of these networks and has perfectly implemented them together.
I think that “Hangouts” is going to be one the strongest advantages Google+ has over the competition. Video is a fantastic way to interact with others, and with Hangouts, I can see logging into Google+ to communicate with others both on a professional and personal level.
CNet have produced this pretty awesome video review of Google+. It’s well worth a watch to find out more about this service.
