Google Plus: A new social experience

Source: An Article by Dr. Gaurish Chawla

I have been toying around with Google plus for some time now and must say am impressed by Google’s recent attempt at social networks after Orkut, Google Buzz and Google Wave.

G+ has a lot of intuitive features that merge the benefits of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr and Skype, aiming to make the web a more social place than ever before. It also will benefit from seamless integration with other Google services, like Google search, Gmail, Google Calendar, Picasa etc. With a brilliantly designed user interface to complement its innovative features, G+ promises to provide an unparalleled social experience.


Here’s my opinion on Google Plus so far

• It solves the age old problem of ‘Unfriendly friend requests’. Say if you use Facebook to gossip with your friends, and suddenly you get a friend request from your boss, or, even worse, your dad, things get difficult. With Google plus, you just put them in different “Circles”, and whenever you update, you can specify whether you want your colleagues to read it, or your friends and family, or everyone. Similarly there’s a circle of “acquaintances”, for those awkward friend requests from people you met once, and don’t really want to share your life with them.

• It integrates other Google services seamlessly within social networking. You can read of a social meet up in your “Incoming” feed, and schedule an event in your Google calendar from the same page. Likewise, the Gmail, Google Docs etc. are all accessible from the top black bar.

• It makes Google search social. No matter how Facebook savvy you are, you still use Google as a search engine whenever you need to know how much cinnamon to add in that Thai curry. And with Google Plus, you can “+1” whichever search result you find the most useful, so others can benefit from your opinion., and vice versa.

• Hangouts make group video chat a breeze. Although Facebook now has integrated Skype, you most probably would find the option to fix a video conference with all your Gmail contacts at once better than Facebook.

As of now, Google plus is accessible by invitation only and its true potential will emerge only when it is rolled out open for everyone. Since you are reading this on Innospace website, I assume you are an entrepreneur, and are curious to know what is in Google plus for you. Here’s my take:


• A business page for your business on G+.  G+ already has about 10 million users, and is going stronger each day. You cannot afford to miss this market.

• Networking. Google Plus is easier than LinkedIn, and I feel it will provide a warmer atmosphere to network and develop relationships.

• Your online presence. More than ever before, you need Search Engine Optimization for your website, and further, you need to put quality content on it. Thousands of Google searchers might be looking for the product you are selling, and if a customer “+1’s” your website, you can imagine the benefit it will bring.

• Google Ads. If you don’t have AdSense for your product, get it now because sooner or later, Google might think of putting Google Ads in the Google Plus.

• Apps and Games. Google Plus might have online Apps and Games, like Facebook. And if you are a developer, this opens up a whole new market for you.


Have you tried Google Plus? Let me know your thoughts on it.

Dr. Gaurish Chawla

A blog post by Afia Khatun