@dennischica I can hear the people over at Google crying from here.

Like any social network, the point is to share what you have to others. If your audience is there then go there and share. And even if they are not, I would recommend keeping an eye on G+ as it will be one of the major players moving forward.

And the search engines results is a BIG thing – it is reason alone to be there.

Russell Allert

I visit google plus once a day to keep myself updated on what’s happening “over there.” I noticed that I tend to spend more time on facebook than on G+. My friends are in Facebook, as well as my market. I do not see any of that on G+.
I keep hearing that G+ is the next big thing in social media. Well and good. Until today, I am still waiting for the next “Michael Jackson.”

Some say that having a presence on G+ helps improve your exposure to search engines. Good point. But If I had to go to G+ so I can be found, then I am not doing a good job with my blog/website.

One of the reasons why social media is effective as a marketing tool is because people would rather listen to peer recommendations. If none of my friends are in google plus, then G+ doesn’t cut it just yet, doesn’t it?

G+ has its good points. It’s like moving to a different country. You find a different perspective. A lot of people in there have influence. There are a number of tools that I have yet to use to increase reach.

I am open to G+, but personally, I am spending more time wtih FB.

@jimsyyap You bring up soem really good points there, Jim. I guess it’s a matter of wait and see for a lot of people. And I could be wrong about G+ but I just have this feeling that it will be worth the effort.

But again, you need to be where you market is.

Russell Allert

Muscles is’t always everything. Google has had plenty of products that have failed and just fade away. I will say one thing google def. has is time… they can just spend, wait it out and if it fails, start all over again.

Guess time will tell.

@dennischica Great call ) Indeed a G+ club would be great. But this is still a beta. A lot more will be added in time.

As to Google+, yes, I agree, muscle is not everything. But, IMO, Google does also have brains. And that’s a powerfull mix.

Maybe a G+ club will open soon so we can discuss this in more depth. I think not paying attention to Google now could hurt later.

Concerning this topic, here’s a piece of news of interest: Google just merged Google Search and Google Plus (and in a smart way).

A link to the Business Insider article on this topic:
http://www.businessinsider.com/google-just-started-powering-your-search-engine-with-your-google-profile-2012-1

And one from Econsultancy (with a great video)
http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/8643-google-adds-social-content-from-google-into-search-results?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

@dennischica In the case of social media, as look as you can keep up with it more is always better. Even if its not the most popular, its still exposure and viability in a place where you, other wise, wouldn’t be seen.  

@dennischica You absolutely want to be on Google+. It is a bit of a different market, it is not the big boy, but someday will be probably the #2 platform. Yes it helps with search results and that alone is worth every minute you spend there. Ignore G+ at your own risk.

G+ right now has a huge number of techie folks and will continue to attract more of that crowd. A lot of people on G+ don’t care much for fb. syndication will get your content to G+, I use the SGPlus plugin for Chrome to push stuff out from G+ to fb and other fronts (twitter, etc).

Also hootsuite has capabilities that allow cross pollination for simple posts. Google has its ups and downs for how you post, but you want to be there for sure, definitely worth the effort. Over time you can bet they will roll out better and improved site metrics and ways to mine the data on your G+ page.

You are definitely not faced with a choice of this or that, it will be both. But both have slightly different audiences.

@carolinechen-whatley Yes and not quite It does not only index G+ posts. It still returns all results, but you have the option to see what is relevant (from social data – and by social data I mean G+ data) to you. This is for now, at least. I expect G+ integretion in search, or, better said, Google’s services integreation in G+ as features, to go on. You can check the two links I posted earlyer in this topic for more data.

@russellallert My pleasure