Oh No! Not another social network ! I can just hear the cries in the PR world: ” We already have too many channels to manage, why should we have to start over on a new platform?”
When I first heard the rumor of Circles back in December 2010 I was excited because I thought it handled the problem of too much irrelevant content being shared with my connections. My business contacts had to wade through my cousins posting about our family tree and pictures of my grandson playing soccer. He’s cute, but it’s not relevant for them. And my friends and family could care less about Digital PR and social media. Most of them don’t even understand what I do. That feature alone should make it interesting to PR people. The right message delivered to the right audience is key to PR success.
You can do this on Facebook with lists. But it is not as easy or intuitive.
G+ is catching on fast – Google has not yet released any official user numbers, but Paul Allen did an estimate using family surnames and his number was 1.7 million on July 4th.
Here are comments from a couple of people in the know:
Lee Odden – With just a few million users, albeit many early adopters and influentials, there’s not much here yet compared to established socnets. However, that’s also an opportunity because it’s not saturated and there’s opportunity for PR folks to create value and lead on their topics of focus.
Chris Brogan: For a long time, I’ve used Twitter to help pull together ideas. Since jumping on Google+ however, I’ve found that so many more people respond, and that there’s a great range of potential answers given to questions. Because comments exist under the post, I don’t lose them in my stream, the way I do in Twitter.
Alan Dunn: it’s not Facebook, but that’s what I like about it.
TechCrunch’s MG Siegler: I have a strong desire to keep using Google+ . It’s easily already the most compelling social project Google has ever done.
Robert Scoble: I’m getting a ton of utility out of it and I am having a blast with it. Hope to see you there soon
And here are two useful articles to help you get started:
Google Plus tips and shortcuts
This is a useful guide created by G+ users:
