I know many out there aren’t fans of Google+ and many of our social media folks have written it off. First, let me say I feel that Google did botch the launch of +. They should have run a smaller beta and then had pages and everything ready to launch.

With that said, I am enjoying Google+. I think it has a lot of potential and good competition to Facebook. Here is why:

• It is a less cluttered layout then to Facebook
• They are slower to release things, unlike Facebook that put out the ticker, story grouping and highlighted stories.
• It’s easy to use, very intuitive
• I have actually been using it to communicate with friends, more so then Twitter or Facebook.
• Hang Outs are easy to use and now includes the ability to call anywhere in the US for FREE.

These are just a few reasons why I like it. I will be realistic here and know they have a long way to go before the mainstream will start seeing it as an alternative to Facebook. Some things that will be needed for that are:

• Better integration with other Google properties i.e. YouTube
• Google Analytics integration on pages
• Vanity URLs for profiles and pages
• Integration into third party applications like HootSuite, Tweetdeck, etc (HootSuite is in limited beta testing just for enterprise customers)
• Multiple admins on pages

I hope we see more from them and it won’t die like Wave, Buzz and many of the other social program Google has come up with.