Google+ is the 4th official attempt by Google to get into the Social Media/Networking space. With the failed Orkut, Google Wave, and Google Buzz, Google opened the book the the Senate, House of Rep, Microsoft and Apple have all read and maybe even wrote.
So Google now read that book carefully, and then determined that it has something people can’t do without, it’s search platform, and so it is bundling the Google+ and making it a master strategy, along with YouTube, and other properties they own eventually.
Senators and Congressmen have been doing this for a long time, and we call it porkware, where you bundle the ugly ducklings along with the beautiful ones and make it a take it all as a bundle or leave everything behind type of thing. Other industries also do that, from software, to art to movies, to premium/non premium real estate space to music (Not any more, when was the last time you bought an “Album”??)
But Google Plus or Google+ graphically, boasts 400 Million+ users. When it first came out, it had a lot of people posting on it, because they didn’t want to be left behind. After a while, it lost its luster, and now with the integration into everything Google is doing, it is ready to pick up steam.
I don’t know if this is going to put a chink in the Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn armor (Yes Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn), but it sure has the best chances, compared to whatever else is out there. So I would look at Google+ very seriously, and consider making it a part of any business’s Social Media strategy.
We will see a lot more push in the coming months, now that they have worked Google+ into Gmail, YouTube and Google Search. It’s a long reaching strategy, and the Long Tail is whipping right along with it.
I now leave you with a quote from LBJ (Lyndon Baines Johnson) the 36th president of the United States. “If you’ve got ’em by the balls, their heart and mind will follow.”