Let me start by saying that my views may be a bit biased on this because I happen to love Google+. Ever since I created a profile on it after an invite from a friend, I have met so many great people both in my industry and in general.
So when TechCrunch released a story last week about Google+ being the walking dead, I was a little upset. I’ll admit it, I hit the panic switch and jumped right on that bandwagon alongside of everyone else who feared the end of Google’s platform was nigh.
After being talked off a ledge by some pro Google+ users, I was able to speculate a little as to Google’s next move. I haven’t spoken with any employees from the company but I can say with 100% certainty that the platform will be around for a while. An article on Google Plus Daily elaborates on this further by quoting +Yonatan Zunger as saying Google+ isn’t going anywhere.
Too large to move?
Since I am usually signed in to my Google account when performing searches, I am noticing an increasing amount of Google+ posts appearing in my search results. This hyper-indexing is giving many people a chance to reach a larger audience than with their website’s content alone.
Can Google consider pulling the plug on something so large and ingrained in search? My opinion? No. I think they were just as shocked as everyone else when Vic Gundotra announced he is leaving the company but won’t sunset Google+ as a result of it.
Where does this leave us?
+Dave Besbris, who has worked on the platform from the beginning, will be taking the helm. Dave was the former VP of Engineering on Google+ and is welcomed by many in his new role. The Google Plus Daily article also quotes Larry Page by saying they “will continue working hard to build great new experiences for the ever increasing number of Google+ fans.”
After reading the posts from Google employees and seeing that quote from the company’s CEO, I think that Google will continue to grow as it has over the past few years.
Though it has not been as widely adopted as Facebook or Twitter, it does have its place in marketing and in communication. If you are not using Google+, how do you spend your time online?
