I have been using Google Plus (Google+) almost since the first day it was made available and in general I like it okay. The ability to segregate your associations into circles gives me the degree of control that I always felt was lacking in Facebook.
Well, now Google as announced a new feature called Google+ Pages that gives businesses the ability to create Google+ Profiles, which you and I can add to our circles. You can read the details in the official Google Blog.
You will no doubt notice that the number of companies and organizations with Google+ Pages is very limited right now, but we are promised that everyone will be able to join in the fun eventually.
The Initial list of Google+ Pages
- All American Rejects
- Anderson Cooper 360
- Angry Birds
- Barcelona Football Club
- Burberry
- Dallas Cowboys
- Fox News
- Good Morning America
- H&M
- Macy’s
- Modelland
- The Muppets*
- Pepsi
- Phoenix Suns
- Save the Children
- Toyota
- Train
- WWE
- X Games
- Zen Bikes
Is this what we want?
I understand why Google has added this feature. I know lots of non-personal entities have Facebook pages and Twitter feeds, but how many of us actually participate and interactive with those entities. Is adding Google+ Pages a good strategy for businesses? Aren’t most businesses fairly inept at effectively using these tools?
Personally, I don’t Facebook “Like” or follow the Tweets of any business or organization. For me it is all about the personal social media relationship. The interaction I receive from organizations is, politely put, useless junk. It is not real, it is not authentic, and most critically it is not worth my time. I think Google+ Pages may be just another social media ploy that I will ignore. What about you?
