class=”proflinkPrefix”>+Esteban Contreras says it best … "bottom line, Google+ is an engagement machine". He's the Social Media Manager for Samsung USA, but the post he's referring to was his own.

Where are all those stupid NYT journalists crying Google+ is a ghost town now? Oh, that's right, they are not here.

Party on fine G+ers.. party on!

Reshared post from +Esteban Contreras

GOOGLE+: AN ENGAGEMENT MACHINE

Today I posted a pretty cool video by Mercedes-Benz on Google+, Facebook and Twitter. I shared it because I liked it and then got offline to enjoy my Saturday.

7 hours later, here's what happened:

Google+: 436 +1s, 338 shares, and 137 comments. And most of it happened while I was working out and grocery shopping. By the time I realized this, the post was "Hot" on Google+ and +Dan Soto was criticizing me (along with +Robert Scoble, +Trey Ratcliff and others on the "Hot" list) for not responding as quickly as he would like. That's a topic for another day.

Facebook: 9 likes. No comments. No shares.

Twitter: Only one reply. Not a single retweet.

Now, I have different amounts of friends/followers on each of these networks, but Google+ is no 2x or even 10x higher in terms of driving engagement. Why is this? I might have 10k Google+ followers because I was here on day 1 and because I do digital marketing for a living, but I believe that Google has created something special here. I didn't get those +1s, comments, and shares… the content I shared did.

Google has figured a way to not only surface good content the way other networks do, but a system that encourages sharing and deeper engagement. Of course, I could've spent a few hours responding to every single person that commented on Google+, perhaps creating even more comments and interesting conversations. But the fact is that I don't expect this kind of engagement around something I post. It shocks me. And it's the reason why I'm a believer in Google+. I don't know whether it's sustainable or whether sometimes it's just luck, but Google+ simply seems to bubble up the kind of content I care about and it recognizes when I post something others will appreciate. When I post something worthless, Google+ knows it. But when it's good, it spreads on its own. And when you think about it, Google wins because not only do they have my information and my attention, but I help increase views on YouTube. The more we share about ourselves, and the more that we participate and connect with each other, the better Google+ gets. Or at least I think so.

Bottom line, Google+ is an engagement machine. I don't care whether people are spending an average of 3 minutes a month here, because the people I'm connected with here and the content and conversations happening here on a daily basis are worth MUCH MORE than 3 minutes a month.

Oh by the way, I just spent a bit more 3 minutes typing this one single post.

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