Google + : 7 Things you should know about Google+

We recently had a study about Google+ growth on our last post, here we will share 7 important things that you should be aware about Google+ that helped in one way or other for its Vertical growth.

1. Google+ is purely based on social networking :

The service is great. It is timely. People are engaging with it like crazy. There are rumors that there are already 4.5M people. That might be high.

2. Google Plus – a strong rival for twitter, Facebook but gently :

            It might be as low as 1m, or even lower, but my guess is that it’s more than 1m people already. That already is probably the fastest growing service (0 to 1m) ever. It’s too early to tell whether or not Google+, the company’s challenger to Facebook, will find success.

3. It follows Facebook’s Data Acquisition and Advertising strategies :

            Brand engagement will be in the form of specialized search and content advertising (eg through ‘Sparks’ or interspersed through the stream). There’s a lot of white space in Google + that would be perfect for advertising. Though Google have their ads it’s not as invasive or pervasive as on Facebook.

4. Google Plus to overtake Microsoft’s market share :

Microsoft has been trying for years with MSN but failing because of poor application. As for sure Google has been more careful to increase its stake in the tech world and it’s overtake is predicted.

5. Twitter will be fine till Google +

            Google+ is currently less active than Twitter since it’s new. Twitter gives important to activity of the posts and Google plus gives more importance to the quality of the posts. But people need both quality and activity.  

6. Amazon makes money through Google +

            Amazon can get benefited by selling portable and console gaming equipments, E-readers, ebooks and laptops through Google+ users in advertising.

7. Multi-personality Role : Google+

            All these networks approach social networking from a different angle. LinkedIn is more professional. Facebook is personal. Google + is expected to fall on both criteria.

Pro’s and Con’s of Google +

Pros :

+ Privacy concerns of Facebook

+ Facebook’s functionality is still very limited. It doesn’t really plug into productivity and collaboration tools like integration of word processors, email, video conferencing, VOIP, calendars, mobility, and spreadsheets with their social platforms.

+ Facebook‘s advertising revenue model is limited compared to what Google is trying to build. This gives Google an enormous strategic advantage.

+ Google Search is a huge added advantage to find people on Google+

+ Features like Friend circles, Hangouts, and the sparks sounds great and unlimited photo and video uploading from Google+ Mobile – should make Google+ moderately successful.

+ Until Facebook builds up an optimized voice and video chat it could more hopefully help Google+

So basically, Facebook needs to adapt very quickly in order to stay relevant. Size alone won’t carry its dominance forever.

Cons :

- Since Facebook is huge; Google+ has an enormous challenge in scaling its size. Without scale, Google+ is just a nice little productivity interface, and the only company it will be competing against is Microsoft, not Facebook.

- Google+ isn’t more attractive as Facebook.

- Google Plus will have to deal with the same privacy concerns as Facebook did.

- Google+ is getting some things right, but is not yet a solid package or a true rival to Facebook or Twitter.