Playhouse Communication Ltd's review of Google’s social media project - Google+.

1. “Thoughts from the Playhouse”?
“Thoughts from the Playhouse” is a series of reports, essays and case studies on
all things digital from us at Playhouse Communication Ltd. We plan on producing at
least one „Thought‟ a month but if we find a lot of interesting stuff happening, we‟re
not going to limit ourselves. If you would like to subscribe to receive these thought
pieces, please email us at info@playhousehousecomm.com
By Mola Kalejaiye, Online PR & Knowledge Management
8th Sept, 2011
Introduction
In case you hadn‟t heard, Google recently launched its own social media platform.
So we at Playhouse thought we‟d review and let you know what you need to know
about Google‟s social media project.
Oh, not another social media thing. Do I really need to know about it?
Yes you do! Because according to digital business analytics firm ComScore, since
its „launch‟ in June 2011, Google+ has become the fastest website to reach 25
million users – and it hasn‟t really started working yet as all you can do for now is
register. Anyway, by comparison, Facebook took approximately three years to
reach the 25 million user milestone, MySpace took just under two years, while
Twitter found its way to the mark in just over 30 months. So all indications are that it
is here to stay and is going to be big!
Oh okay, so what is it?
Google+ is the latest attempt by Google to break into the social network market. In
a nutshell, it is an amalgamation of several services we already use, but according
to Google, „done better‟. The service allows users to share photos, links and videos
with friends, family and acquaintances.

2. GOOGLE+ ICONS AT A GLANCE
Starting top left and circling to the right: Circles, Hangouts, Home, Sparks, Profile, Photos
What the Icons mean
GOOGLE+ CIRCLE
Google+ Circles is
Google‟s version of the
Facebook friend list of the
Twitter follower list. Users
can select multiple friends
and drag-and-drop them
into groups. This makes it
easier to send stuff to
friends, family or the entire
network.
GOOGLE+ HANGOUTS
Google+ has a unique
video chat feature called
Hangouts, which lets you
chat with up to 10 people
at the same time. With
Hangouts, the unplanned
meet-up comes to the web
for the first time. Let
specific buddies (or entire
circles) know you‟re
hanging out and then see
who drops by for a face-to-
face-to-face-to-face chat.

3. GOOGLE+ SPARKS
Google+ Sparks is
Google‟s content
recommendation and
discovery engine. Users
can search different topics
and find relevant articles,
videos and photos. Users
can then share that
content with their friends.
GOOGLE+ PROFILE
Google+ Profiles are like
most profile pages. It
includes basic information
about the user, like
interests, occupation and
profile photos.
GOOGLE+ PHOTOS
Google+ allows you to
upload and share photos
with your friends. It
includes photo tagging and
a simple browser-based
image editor. With instant
upload, your photos and
videos upload themselves
automatically, to a private
album on Google+. All you
have to do is decide who
to share them with.

4. GOOGLE+ MOBILE
Google+ will also be launching
mobile apps for Google+, starting
with Android. The Android app
includes access to the Streams,
Circles, Sparks, and multimedia.
Google intends to also launch apps
for Google+ on other platforms in the
near future.
Advantages of Google+
 Google+ is more like a meeting point for all Google‟s services like Gmail,
chat, Google maps, Google Earth, YouTube and Picasa. This means
Google+ is basically a social network that brings together all services offered
by Google – and already being used by lots of people – into one space.
 Google+ effectively combines Facebook and Twitter social media programs
into one, allowing users to have friends they can share with, and specific
groups of friends they can cluster into circles. Users can also follow others,
including celebrities or companies like they do on Twitter.
 Google+ gives you the ability to „discover‟ new people without fear. Since
you can add someone and easily segregate them from your private stuff, but
allowing them see what you wouldn‟t mind sharing with the world.
 Privacy is a big issue with online users and with all the criticism about
Facebook‟s privacy practices, Google+ is designed to make the privacy
challenge easier by providing clear and concise privacy policies to remove
doubt of users that are uncomfortable with providing yet another social
network with their personal information.
Brands and Google+
 Google+ is considered „brand friendly‟ as it provides some innovative new
social tools that brands can use to connect with their fan-base, but does it
really differ from other social network? No one is certain yet till it officially
kicks off, but the buzz generated so far is creating a level of excitement
among „social network savvy‟ brands.
 So far, some brands, businesses, organizations and educational
establishments have taken advantage of the beta version Google+ invite
(including Mark Zuckerberg and 62 other Facebook employees) to start
making their presence felt in the newest online frenzy. Ford Motor Company

5. is one of the first brands on Google+, and it says on their profile that they‟re
working with Google to test for businesses.
 Google says it‟s planning to introduce Google+ for business before the year
is out, allowing brands to create profiles for their brands. They have closed
all business profiles and asked businesses to hold off on creating consumer
profiles for now, and will start doing tests with „non-user entities‟ soon, which
will be available for businesses.
What are people saying about Google+?
Is that it?
Not quite. As John Ridpath of Contagious magazine put it, “perhaps our attention
should be focused less on Google+ as a social network – less on Circles and
Hangouts and Sparks – and more on what it means for the service at the core of
the company‟s business: search.”
That‟s because when you do a search while logged in to Google+, the results you
see are influenced by your „social graph‟. I.e, if you were to perform a search on
„chocolate‟, you might find that some of the results you are being shown are
because someone within your „Circle‟ has previously shared a particular link. And
then, if you “link other platforms to their Google accounts – Twitter, Flickr or
personal blogs, for instance – public content shared or created on those platforms
begins to influence search results too.” So, perform a search on „Brazil‟ and you

6. might get results showing pictures a friend of yours has taken and uploaded to
„Flickr‟!
It is called „Social Search‟.
“All of this is huge news for brands. Every user of Google+ will receive a unique set
of results for each search. So whilst traditional approaches to Search Engine
Optimisation will remain important, social is going to become an even bigger priority
than it is now. In other words, if brands want to maximise their search ranking, their
content needs to be worth sharing.”
Our thoughts?
It is our opinion at Playhouse that with the launch of Google+, consumers & brands
are likely to flock to the platform as soon as it is open to the public to start creating
their presence because judging by the way Gmail has grown since it launched to
the general public in 2007 till now (estimated 195 million active email accounts as
at 2010), it is safe to say that Google+ will be well received and have no problem
fitting in comfortably with the other networks available. Initially, it may be a slow
process (if you can consider 25 million users within 3 months as slow) but over a
period of time it will surely catch on.
However, Google+ shouldn‟t be perceived as a replacement for Facebook or
Twitter, rather an additional platform that brands need to be present on.
So you may not have to rush to get onto the platform, but you need to be aware
that it is coming.
Lastly, Google Analytics will probably play an important role in tracking activity on
any given brand‟s page. We believe Google has the capabilities to provide deep
levels of behavioural analysis, which would better identify how traffic is being led to
a sign up, a purchase, or any other conversion. This reason alone makes Google+
a hit for us here at Playhouse.
Okay, when do we start?
Just how long will brands have to wait for Google+ Business to launch?
“Our original timeline was by the end of the year,” according to a Google
spokesperson, “but we‟ve accelerated. The window is the next few months, and if
we get it done sooner, that‟s great, too.”
So watch this space.
About Playhouse Communication Ltd
Playhouse is a full service digital advertising agency. If you would like to find out
more, visit our website at www.playhousecomm.com, email us at
info@playhousecomm.com or call us on +234 (0)13205232.