Google Plus Launch: Are you on Google+ Yet?

A few people in the WMG office have received their Google Plus invites and have already started testing out Google’s social networking platform.

Some of us haven’t but we’re still happy to wait patiently anyway. We’re not sure what the criteria is for getting an email invitation (most probably at random), but we do know that it’s still invitation-only at present.

So what exactly is Google Plus?  And what does it offer us that Facebook doesn’t?  Nobody can be sure of whether the platform will be successful yet, but we have to say, it’s looking rather good.  Here are some of the Google+ features:

• Circles – a way for users to categorise and organise their friends and contacts into the appropriate social circle, for convenient group messaging.

• Sparks – a search box to help people tap into areas of interest so they can create a list of things / activities / groups which appeal to them.

• Instant upload – a faster way to upload photos and content from Android phones.

• Hangouts – online chat with video chat for up to ten people at a time.

• Huddle – this a quick way of creating a group message to different social circles within your connections.

Watch a demo on how to use the different Google Plus features:

Second Time Lucky, Google?

At the moment, the Google+ platform is still in a field trial with a handful of people, thus the limited invitations.  Google has failed once already with the fruitless Google Buzz, so will the second attempt to create a social community, actually work?  It’s hard to say at the moment, but some bloggers have already shown an appreciation for features such as Circles, Hangouts and the handy Huddle function.

The test platform has had an impact within the WMG office too…..

“G+, as friends call it, has already pushed Facebook on a level. Google might be the underdog in this marketplace but they know how to make technology and Google Plus has great tech under the hood. Circles are intuitive, the design is just the right side of minimalist and the integration with other Google products like docs and gmail is fantastic. To me, it’s the next step in making your computer experience the same as your online experience; the implications for search marketing are potentially huge.” – James, link builder, WMG

Will Google Plus Affect SEO?

So we already know that social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have an impact on SERPs, and we know that links shared through these sites can influence website rankings.  But isn’t it too early to be asking about Google Plus and its affect on SEO?  Apparently not.  Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz has already conducted a little experiment to see how the test platform fares against Twitter.

With Google+, the activities are transpiring within the Google site itself, so there was very little surprise when retweets on Twitter ranked a page much faster than the reshares on Google Plus. Of course, this was all done in a large scale trial and it’s still too early to have all the answers jusy yet.  In terms of actual rankings, the SEOMoz team were unable to unearth a solid correlation – so we’ll have to wait and see.  See the full, detailed experiment on SEOMoz.