I’ll come right out and say it: I’m not a big Google+ fan.
Yet.
Of course I see the immense potential of this network. Google+ is the second largest social network after Facebook and the combined impact of a strong presence on all Google products is huge.
Measures like the +1, the Author Rank and other Google innovations will surely improve the quality of the web in general, as spammy sites and content thieves will ultimately be pushed to the margins.
It’s just that so far, nothing was happening on Google+. All my friends (or most of them anyway) are on Twitter, I have a big youth ministry network on Twitter…so what do I need Google+ for? With the exception of the ‘circles’, Google+ didn’t offer much news in comparison with Facebook.
I gave it a try when it launched, but quit after a few months because my stream kept filling up with loads of messages from just a few people. There wasn’t much new, much happening, much interaction.
Now, I know that for certain niches this is different, most notably photography and tech stuff. But to me it feels like the general public hasn’t embraced Google+ (yet). I certainly haven’t found many students and teens there.
Take II
Despite all this, I’ve decided to give it another try. The first reason is the enormous potential I mentioned before. Considering Google’s dominance in search traffic, you’d be a fool not to tap into that. The second is that with some new features like the Hangouts, Google+ is actually offering new benefits.
And the third reason is that lately, I’ve become somewhat weary of Facebook. They’ve shown time and again that they’re handling in their own interest, not in that of the users or the businesses and companies using Facebook. I think it would be foolish to rely on one social network that has a track record of being fickly and to put it mildly not very concerned with people’s privacy.
To get the most of my Google+ experience, I’m interested in tips and tricks to maximize my impact there. I came across this basic, but very helpful infographic containing 64 Google+ strategies. Let’s see if these will help me in making Google+ work for me.
Does Google+ work for you?
What strategies do you use?
[via Copyblogger]
Tyler Scott Hess says
Welcome to the future! I started taking G+ seriously about a month ago…it takes work, but that can actually be good for actual networking as opposed to information blasts on twitter and the rant depot that facebook is becoming.
Eric Dye says
True story.
kolby says
Great stuff. Thanks for the post rachel.