At the start of 2012 the majority of people I asked about their New Year’s resolutions came back with the usual responses ”go to the gym more”, “drink less booze”, “cut out chocolate” etc etc. However I am pretty confident that my two personal resolutions for the year are pretty unique:- 1. By the end of the year to be able to ‘do’ the splits. 2. Increase my use of Google+. As this is a digital blog I’ll choose to focus on my second resolution in more depth…
I signed up to Google+ last year during the invitation-only phase and admittedly didn’t return too often in 2011 with the key reason being that I did not understand what I would get out of it. The two main social platforms in my life are Facebook and Twitter and they both have a separate use in my life; Facebook is used to connect and share with my friends and family with Twitter being used to keep up to date with people/topics/companies I find interesting. The question is how will Google+ add to and enrich my social experiences online? The only way to find out is to use it more which is what I have been doing since the start of the year.
My immediate thoughts are that the platform feels more visual with a key emphasis on users connecting with one another through photos and ‘hangouts’. To get a feel for the platform I have been adding people I know (which is predominately people from within the industry) along with brands and celebrities I find interesting. I believe that the success of Google+ in the future will stem from their focus on the latter – celebrities. Using high profile names will push the platform into the mainstream subconcious and allow Google+ to move beyond just the so-called early adopter members. It already has David Beckham and Lady Gaga using the platform which are two people who are arguably at the top of their profession and will only make more people aware of it. Larry Page announced earlier this month that Google+ has 90 million users which is double what they had three months ago. However the question remains how many of these users are engaging daily or weekly (for which a definitive figure was not provided).
So after my first full month of using the platform, I am still confused as to how it will enrich my social experiences online. Ultimately the success of the platform will be driven by the people who join and nobody I know from outside the digital industry is a member making it hard for me to comment on what my Google+ account adds to my life. In its current state it is something that I am using in conjunction with other social platforms and it is allowing me to connect with people within the digital world alongside other people I am interested in. My experiences will change as others share more on Google+ so I’ll be sure to share my thoughts as they evolve!
If you want to add me to your Google+ circle then feel free to do so…