Social Media Corner: What is Google+ and should you join?

By: Jessica Boles

It may not look like it or seem like it, but Google Plus is on the rise. Experts recommend to hop on board now as to not fall behind in the social media world.

Launched in June, 2011, Google+ is a multilingual social networking and identity service that is owned and of course, operated by Google. Unbeknownst to a lot of us, it is the second largest social networking site in the world, surpassing Twitter in January 2013. Google+ has approximately 359 million active users and is described as a “social layer” that enhances most of their online properties, including YouTube, Maps and Gmail. Log into one, you’ve logged into the lot.

 

The objective of Google+ is to index not just the web but the users that are searching the web. This is to better understand the data people are searching for by knowing how and where they use it. It is not a social network like Facebook, but a unified Google identity to tie in all your searching and internet usage in an all inclusive Google database. This is how Google+ will find its way into the social media world. Facebook is the go-to platform for connecting friends, Google+ is more often used to meet strangers that share a common interest.

 

Experts report that an authoritative Google+ account is one of the elements factored into how high you rank on Google search results. Having a Google+  account is an important part for the criteria in the search algorithm that ranks the Google pages. Studies have shown that the usage of Google+ is growing fast among older adults reporting that the other social media platforms are mostly for younger people.

 

Google+ is amazingly different now that they have progressed over the past two years and is an easy way to meet people, join communities and interact with potential customers, influencers and people of interest. There are a ton of influencers that are now focusing on Google+, now might be your time to join the Google experience!