I have been talking to a lot of people (and companies) about Google+ lately. I'm "back on the saddle" after my surgery & excited to be out in public again! What it comes down to me is this, the "how" of Google+ is easy. There is plenty of information floating around that will walk you through posting, updating, Circles, Hangouts, etc. Yes, that is imortant to teach & know, but I see far too many people getting hung up on the fact their perception that it's "too hard to figure out, no one to talk to in here, a ghost town, it doesn't work and/or a waste of time."
I call bullshit.
My first thought was that those people are lazy. After talking to many one to one, I now see it's a lack of "why" that has them stalled. Sure, I can teach you every single thing there is to know about the mechanics of Google+ but if you have no motivation to be here, all of that information is pointless.
So I have been talking about the "why" of Google+. I have had more than a few people tell me (and their entire social graph) that the lightbulb has finally gone off for them. Good. Let's see if we can reach more people and spark them as well. So, you ask, what's the WHY?
Coming from a business/professional point of view (because that is the position I work from) I see Google+ as the bridge that connect the information of the Internet and the knowledge of your friends. Think about those tow words for a minute. Information & knowledge. One is data and the other is the applied use of that data. Computers (and search engines) cannot really apply knowledge to data, but humans can write algorythms to better sort and curate that data. People (in my opinion) are the only way to turn information into knowledge. As my view is that Google as a company wants to transition from a information source to a knowledge source (hellllllo Search Plus Your World & Knowledge Graph) they need us to make the lines between data points and apply value. I beleive THAT is the reason you, your company, and your brand need to be heavily and actively involved in Google+. personally, I value the community here, but from a business point of view, that's an entirely different conversation. My point is, if you want to create and influence the knowledge on the internet about yourself or your business, YOU need to actively shape that and build youw own "knowledge footprint" – and I strongly feel that stRts with Google+.
I am working on an in-person, hands-on, intermediate+ to advanced+ level 1-2 day workshop to do a deep dive into these ideas and concepts that teach detailed strategic and tactical applications of Google+. Yes it will cross over into other social media platforms. Why? Because social isnt't about the tools, it's about the people (we just use the tools as a facilitator to get to the actual conversations). While I'm on the hunt for a operational coordinator and info marketing specialist, my plan is to hit Chicago, Atlanta, Pheonix, Orlando, and Philadelphia. Thses secondary cities/markets are under-served as far as professional education goes (in my opinion).
The talks I have been doing at conferences don't truely let me cover all the things I feel need to be discussed and discovered about Google+. The idea of standing in front of some people in an audience is great for general exposure, but what I really desire is to share – and create – knowledge. I have heard there are a few presenters at the event I am at now that are very against Google+. I looked up their profile and they have no information, not many in their circles, and no posts. Yes, it doesn't work for you but just because you are lazy and think this is the Field of Dreams and people that don't know you will automagically gravitate to your empty profile and give you business is delusional. Even for those that are giving it a try, you need to go back to Social Media 101 to learn how to reach out and converse FIRST.
Anyone that gets on a soapbox and tells me Google+ is a waste of their time needs to come see me and chat for 15 minutes one to one. I promise you will walk away a changed, and educated, person. 🙂
#blog
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Typos for the win via my iPad…. Sorry!
Sorry Lynette, Thought you were on about +1 and it's value for SEO, or not. Scanned to quickly.
Nah, Google+ is fine. Facebook is…Facebook. I like LinkedIn and always will for the business networking. I like all the sites I use & set up for my Company & customers.
Just in cae you thought I was having a go at ya! 😉
Joe
my English is bad,the blog has value for thinking, thank you.
You make excellent points, +Lynette Young. Well done. I especially like this line "Google+ as the bridge that connect the information of the Internet and the knowledge of your friends." Thanks for sharing.
Great post; highlight for me was if you want to create and influence the knowledge on the internet about yourself or your business, YOU need to actively shape that and build your own "knowledge footprint"
This is a really important point for brand marketers to understand, and it's great you're leading the education crusade on why and how they build that footprint.
I might be on the same track as +Joseph Lynch in viewing the primary opportunity is in affecting search results. Not via the +1 but through published content and the social graph (to use an FB term).
This, right here is a massive problem:
"Yes, it doesn't work for you but just because you are lazy and think this is the Field of Dreams and people that don't know you will automagically gravitate to your empty profile and give you business is delusional. Even for those that are giving it a try, you need to go back to Social Media 101 to learn how to reach out and converse FIRST"
All the damn time with clients
+Joseph Lynch the SEO power of Google+ combined with Search Plus Your World, Authorship, Knowledge Graph, and social connections is changing how the game gets played. THAT scares – or excites – a lot of business folks I talk to…..
Nice to see you back in full force +Lynette Young
Let's see if we can get those pinterest fans over here too. We need a bigger female presence in Google+
I think the number one question for anyone that does not get Google+ is…. Do you use Google? Then you need Google+
+Lynette Young Well done post! I think Google+ is moving towards a truly human-generated search engine where SEO is just a small part of the algorithm and user behavior is the driver. Unfortunately, most people online today are years behind this concept. Google+ is moving way too fast for them. No worries, it will be here when they finally get a clue and in the meantime, we get to make our mark before the hordes arrive!
i like thid idea
I work in the homeschool niche, and am a proponent of G+ with that predominantly female audience. Thank you. +Lynette Young! This is THE (new) place to establish a presence. Too many people have eaten the FB lotus and can't see past it to other social networks. Like you said, G+ is about molding information– far more than JUST chatting and goofy puppy pics.
Thanks for your continued push on G+! You helped me to understand the WHY of G+ in 15 mins or so at last week's SoMeBizLife. I'm spending some time to get my head around G+ more and starting to spread the knowledge to my clients. Keep on rockin'!
bravo c'est la téchnologie
I've completely shifted all my social networking to G+ after dabbling my toes for the last couple of months.
Major things I notice.
Not a lot of woman. The ratio in my circles is like 80/20 men/woman. I'm looking for balance and I'm trying to circle as many "interesting" woman as possible (with out looking like a stalker)
Very limited numbers of people in interests groups outside – Tech, Startup & Photography .. as much as I love Tech, Startup and Photography it would be nice to talk around my interests. Currently I sneak back in the FB to do this.
Not a lot of people in my hemisphere (New Zealand) but lots of people globally. My circles have an interesting global mix (if translate worked in the news feed I would follow more foreign language posters)
The global thing causes a timing issue. My posting is out of sync with most US users. & vice versa
My "Friends" aren't here. So I'm talking to strangers all the time. Lots of interesting strangers! But virtual relationships with strangers are still virtual relationships. Virtual relationships with friends has a different nuance. I've been online for over 15 years and I still think its still hard to build real relationships in digital with out some sort of RL context.
G+ suggest you join hang-outs. But I would no less join a Hang-out with strangers than I would walk up to a group of strangers in the street.
Despite all this, what I am doing in an effort to connect on G+; and be as Scoble suggest be a #thoughtleader , is to post consistently on topics of my own interest. Use relevant #tags .. then drill down on the #tags and comment or post on other users posting with the same tags.
Using tags or search strings to find & circle people with similar interets.
I agree with you +Lynette Young in regards to building a human connection between knowledge & data. And in that degree I see G+ as having some of the most valuable unclaimed vacant real estate on the web.
All in all though, I'm not sure what I'm expecting from this. TO be know as someone who knows stuff? To be a #maven ?
This is why I do partly wonder if it is a field of dreams.
[disclaimer] I'm a dreamer.
Here is my problem with this +Lynette Young, it is almost impossible to keep up with the moving target that is G+.
I don't have an interview or a topic that I want to cover for my G Plus show tonight, want to be a panelist and talk about this issue tonight, 7 EST +Lynette Young?
Here is my problem, G+ is NOT what it should be, a stable marketing platform. I can understand search being a constantly adapting and self morphing moving target. But G+ should be a stable, dependable platform.
With what G+ has done to author thumbnails this past week is just silly.
My best client did 7.5 million in sales last month. At the time he was way excited about G+ author thumbs in search results. Now the hover card is only appearing in SPYW. So after the big Penguin scare and now author thumbs becoming way less effective, he has lost confidence in G+ and Google.
If his author thumbnails that I set up had built the profile I told him it would he could have brought tons of BIG BIG business owners on board and really built a community of G+ networked local businesses together. Now he sufferers from a lack of trust.
I am beginning to feel that Gwave days coming back fast.
Great article and very well said! +Lynette Young Maybe you need to add Nashville to your cities that need educated as I run into a lot of the "waste of time" mentality here as well.
Are you having one of those moments Lynette? Don't worry the day is young and everyone seeks information for their reasons.
For me Lynette my light bulb went off about 2 weeks ago. I've never been and abbot Facebook'r so getting away was simple. I think at first even for myself as a tech person the Google experience was a little weird. Everything didn't fall in place right away. Honestly I have been waiting for every improvement since it came out. I was reading an article on CNET and it spoke on how cool the new mobile app for Google plus was. Needless to say I tried it and haven't looked back since. It is fun. Easy to personalize and I love it.
I do not undstand it
"With what G+ has done to author thumbnails this past week is just silly" – what's this, +Chris Lang?
Google removed the hover card overlay in Organic search and limited author thumbs to one per SERP page. (not happy here) +Natalie Gilbert …
I am already flagging them, do worrry!
Great post. Many good points. I'm working on getting my creative team on here. They don't see the value of it like we do. They're catching slowly though.
Very well written, and makes some great points.. But you and Google+ should probably get married after what it seems like you and it probably did last night. <3
Excellent work! When people-the users- of social media adopt these key points Google+ will be a homerun(although I think it already is).
A silly side point, but your spelling of algorithms as algorythms gave me a delightful pause. Good algorithms need good rhythm! Thanks for helping to keep both sides of my brain aligned.
Lynette, I would like to tip my hat to you this is a good read and full of great points! I would be very interested in picking your brain some time LOL and would be interested in any training that you set-up so please keep me in the loop. Next, I believe for a marketing plan, networking and business in general to truly be the most successful all avenues must be at least touched in one way or another. Some of course more then others depending on where your key market niche is coming from. Now like Joseph said on the second post LinkedIn is such a great tool for business minded people looking for other business minded people for employment or networking to grow certain businesses, in my opinion it truly sets out from the rest for that point. For example; when I go to LinkedIn I know 99% of the time I am going to be networking with important or like minded business individuals career oriented or entrepreneurial individuals verses Facebook which is mainly family, friends co-workers people really not interested in talking business. But more interested in keeping up with the latest gossip or current happenings going when they are going to bed or did you hear about what happen to so and so. Now this is where I feel Google+ sets it's self out from the pack, I believe it is growing in the right direction by having more of a knowledge based network of people that are general always open to learn something new, listen to new ideas or people like yourself that is wanting to share his or her knowledge to help like minded people. Now of course you have a little of each in all three but I am speaking in general, this is what I get from these three social media watering holes. So to sum this up I believe that it isn't which one your involved in, because I believe it's important to be involved in all three as each offers a different group of people along with different goals and desires in each social site. Would love to hear about what people think about this post so please chime in!!!
I'm in Scottsdale, Arizona so put me in a circle so I know when you come to Phoenix.
Very well said (as ever) – 100% agree!
+Lynette Young thank you for a great post. I was one of the first outsiders to use Google+ and for the last few months I have struggled to find a way to fit it in my life with all of my other social networks. Finally this weekend after having a great conversation with people about a topic we were all passionate about it came to me. Google+ doesn't need fit in my life its already a part of it. I hate to compare with Facebook but I will. If most of us were to be honest with ourselves the majority of people on our Facebook pages we could care a dang about. High school friends from 20 years ago that you were never looking for before Facebook are old news. After catching up a few times what else is there really? Facebook is not truly a social network because it's conversations with people you already know. I think of it like this. If I was invited to a party full of great people and the only people I mingled with were the people I went to the party with what would the other party goers think of me? This is how I have come to think of Facebook its a party full of people I know already and I'm bored with or with people I don't really care about anyway. Google+ allows me to be at the party and interact in what I would call a truly social way with people from around the world who share interests in what I care about. I have mentioned on Facebook about things that I think are cool or interesting and had very little feedback. Google+ let's it all come to me with the people I choose to circle and those topic or issues we discuss in adult ways. With this revelation I have also decided that for most cases I don't want or need my Facebook friends on Google+ they are noise. Hope this doesn't come off as being a snob but both networks have a place
Nice post, +Lynette Young. I think you are on to something here. I keep seeing multiple, intersecting graphs (the social graph, the interest graph, and the knowledge graph) coming together here, on Google+. Google is trying to understand who is knowledgable and who is influential about which topics within the knowledge graph and they are then mapping that to who cares about (or has an interest in) those topics. Google+ is the place to build up your expertise in a topic area and connect that expertise back to other content that you are publishing online. To me, that's why it's important to be active here.
Another interesting thing to note is: what is the intention of the person using G+… when people think, "oooh, social network… i want to find, connect, and follow people that I already know." I don't think G+ was designed for that purpose to the level that FB was… Sure, you can find and connect with people you know, but for me, the crux of G+ comes in connecting a user with content that they're interested in… notice how you can add interest circles. If folks can wrap their brains around using this tool to find information and discuss common interests and expand their networks with these conversations, they'll see a different picture.
+Jason Medlicott
Give it time. After you use it non stop for about a week it will sync. It's GUI set up is the most user friendly yet.
+Jason Medlicott
Give it time. After you use it non stop for about a week it will sync. It's GUI set up is the most user friendly yet.
good
Logging into Facebook now to tell everyone to start Gplus'n. Don't worry only the social responsible ones. I want my G+ ignorance and drama free.
you are so cooooooooollllll Young
+Don Shane
I feel u all day about Facebook Don. I wasn't looking for Taneka from my 10th grade biology class before and I could careless 15 years later. If we don't talk you aren't my friend. You are an acquaintance and thats where I'm putting you. Oh wait Google thought of that. LOL.
+Omar Shareef so true. Keep the cat pictures and boring lives over at that other place. Oh and keep the Zynga invites there too
What is wrong with
tiposoops typo XDI would prefer the HORDES stay away +Eunice Coughlin. I want those that actually +THINK ? to be here @ +Google+! 😀
+Simon Jou Zhang I agree but you know they are coming, it's unavoidable. Enjoy it while you can!
WOMEN in charge. I like it 😀
Google + doesn't promote stalking. It promotes sharing knowledge of more then yourself: The world surrounding us. 🙂
Yes and the random nakedness and stupid what I'm doing updates. And by the way no I don't want to be your friends friend I don't know him or her. Its laughable the amount of crap Facebook dishes out to you on a day to day basis. Seriously I closed one Facebook account reopened a new one and only added religious acquaintances and distant relatives. Any relative living where I am gets no invite sorry. I'll see you soon enough at a family gathering, or just a random visit, but not on Facebook. People with real lives live in the moment and like the spontaneity of meeting and conversing with new people or people from a distance. We don't want to feel obligated to say Hi every time we sign in its why we always turned off our availability when we signed in. (Come on I know I'm not the only one that does that on Facebook).
The problem here is that the only people who are going to bother with this are business people. If your circle of friends isn't on board there's no incentive to stay and figure things out, as a regular person.
Not a problem +Chiva Guvera , it's an opportunity to make NEW friends. Don't let the short sightedness of others control your life.
+Chiva Guvera you're right but honestly I'm having great conversations with people like you who share my passion for certain things. My Facebook friends could care less about this conversation or anything else I discuss here. It really is a different mindset
+Veronica Phillips here is the issue. A regular person wants to talk with their buddies. They are not looking to tool around multiple systems. Suggesting that G+ is an excellent marketing platform to connect with the general populace is a non starter. The general public isn't actually on here.Saying that I, or anyone else, simply need NEW friends is utter nonsense.
This is a pretty common story; everyone's read it before:
My G+ experience, from the launch to two weeks out, diminished from a bunch of tech/nerds I knew and shifted to a bunch of online marketers I never had anything to do with (other than "adding" them) Every previous social connection I had pre launch is still duplicated elsewhere, isn't usually duplicated here, and thus there is little reason to be here simply to "hang out". For example, I have 500 facebook friends. I have, at most, thirty of them in my circles here. Of that number, maybe five of them are people I know off line.
I, for the record, am not the average person. I am usually classified as a "power user" or some such twaddle. If it's not working for me, how's it going to work with my niece, my cousin, or aunt? Heck my girlfriend isn't even on here as more than a profile.
Further, the launch was premature and the functionality of the site was confusing and limited. For example, being in a group with someone not already in your circle was a nightmare. Additionally, the number of marketing posts I get are 2 to1 on my stream for so-called regular people. If I want to learn about SEO etc. Google+ is the place to be. If I want to see what's going on Friday, I still have to use Facebook, email, or the phone.
+Chiva Guvera Google+ isn't going to replace Facebook and if that what your looking for it hasn't been made yet. Facebook and Google+ have their own places in your life.
The truth is, the internet is starting, and will continue, to stop centralizing around corporate owned and controlled media hubs, search engines, and "social" networks towards more user owned and operated platforms that secure privacy and give the user greater control. Projects like Seeks search and Yacy (as well as privacy aware searches, like duckduckgo.com and ixquick.com) will slowly replace corporate-fascist owned search tools. Decentralized, federated means of sharing content, like Friendica (http://friendica.com), Diaspora, Newebe, Libertree, and others will eventually replace G+, FB, etc., which will fade away just as MySpace and others have. So, too great an investment in a corporate controlled internet really is a waste. The internet belongs to US! Private, personal, decentralized and federated platforms will secure the ownership of the internet by the people, not the corporate fascists. This is the inevitable way of the future.
+Tony Baldwin I couldn't disagree more.
I think more and more people are going to just say "eff it" and become apathetic to the concept of "tailor-made" ads. And more people are going to stop worrying whether or not Google knows what underwear you have on that day.
I think the trend is definitely pointing towards people giving up privacy towards convenience and security, not the other way around.
And I think there are a lot of people who think companies like Google are attempting to take over the world by knowing your address, when they're not. But I think we all know what kind of people those are…loons. And nothing turns people off more towards trying to get their privacy back than the crunchy hippy talking about weirdo things.
Personally? I think technology is the future and is going to become so incorporated into our lives, we better start accepting that there are going to be aspects of the technological world that is going to know all of our kinks and persuasions.
Just think… In Star Trek, everyone knew where you were at all times.
+Lynette Young I agree about Google+. I'm only fairly new here, but the potential for this place is astounding. It beats FB and Twitter at their own games and brings extra content to the table that neither of those could hope to compete with. Like Hangouts, for example.
I think Hangouts and Google Talk, when it begins to catch on, is going to bankrupt companies like Skype, etc.
"people giving up privacy towards convenience and security"
You contradict yourself.
Relinquishing my autonomy and privacy will never make me more secure. Ever.
Just because you still have the corporate blinders on and don't see what's happening on the internet doesn't mean it isn't happening.
+Tony Baldwin I'm educated enough to understand Franklin's quote, I was using the word in the sense of what people mistakingly believe.
Irregardless, I may have "blinders", or so you assume, but they're sportier than a tinfoil hat.
You haven't seen MY tinfoil hat. It's sexy.
+Tony Baldwin haha Touche. Is it like those old bicornes? That would be impressive!