Google+ has been a topic for me here over the last few months. I do like the layout and design, especially after the redesign. It is cleaner and easier to find posts. Big hopes were what I had for the social network, but they haven’t been realized yet. The function that is the main draw are Hangouts.
I have started using it for my clients and have put my them on it with a page. This was a smart decision especially after they have now tied in search results with +your world. But, is Google+ going anywhere?
Today Google has released a share button. This is similar to the Share button for Facebook. But is this too little too late for social network. Here are a few issues I have with the network:
- From a brand perspective, especially for smaller brands, it’s hard to find pages
- Engagement is much lower then a Facebook page
- There appears to be less time spent on the site as opposed to Facebook
- Lack of real analytics for pages, they give you shares and +1’s but not in depth like Facebook insights
- Will users actually use the Google share? It is the least used of the three social share features.
These are just a few thoughts. I got the inspiration for this post form Tech Crunch. You can read the article, http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/24/google-share-button/. I have used some of my insights with my clients in small business to come up with my bullet points.
