Why Google+ needs to open Business Profiles now
Posted in Blogs on 21. Sep, 2011
So, yesterday Google+ stepped away from Beta status and declared itself open to all – albeit still in an incomplete product format.
Great. So now my Mum can get a profile on there – she was itching for this moment…
Not.
In fact, you can add to this list, my wife, my brother, my cousin, my mates, my old school friends, and my random stalker. Actually, strike the last one.
You see, Google+ was labelled the great Facebook challenger; in fact, the `Facebook Killer` no less; (by some headline making numpties – though Facebook have duly and swiftly responded with it’s own actions). I have some `friends` who are on Google+ with the intention of social interaction. They don’t get it. They don’t get why it’s any better than Facebook for photo sharing and longer updates, or any better than Twitter for incidental conversation. That’s because it isn’t. It can’t replace either of those intentions. It is NOT a challenger to Facebook or Twitter.
But I like Google+. I’m an advocate, and have given it attention of varying consistency. The reason I like it, is because of business. I’m not likely to put photos of my kids on there, but I can connect and share with business acquaintances and connections with substance and genuine conversational interaction. This is because it was us – the Digital community – that were give first shout to test it out. Facebook had university colleagues. Google+ has digital professionals.
So the cast has been set. The people who make Google+ happen to any degree of success are professionals; using it as either a more fulsome alternative to twitter, or a more genuinely interactive professional alternative to LinkedIn. And there lies Google+’s best opportunity.
Far be it for me to define the correct strategy for Google – well why not – B2B is where Google should be targeting greater user-ship, and that means Business profiles need to happen NOW. Can we ever see this being a consumer space? I can’t. But through business to business interaction, personal and professional profiles can be inspired. Nobody wants another Facebook, but aspects of LinkedIn could be bettered – and in Google+, Google has that opportunity.
LinkedIn as a communications tool through the groups format is stilted and un-trusted. Frankly, it’s ruined by recruiters, and other spammers – stemming from group owners inability to restrain their desire to have big member numbers. Google+ has created a system of selective streaming – which in theory can block out the spammers. Business Profiles on LinkedIn are also merely just headhunting tools, not genuinely portals of information and business opportunity. Google+ has the opportunity to make more interactive, Facebook style business pages.
If Business Profiles were opened up tomorrow, I’d have mine there in seconds, and so would thousands and thousands of other businesses. I’d even pay £10 or so per month for it, to be part of that interactive business community – still engineered by personal branded profiles.
Google needs to think seriously about it’s market for Google+, and this is my take on where it should be lending itself.
You would expect the likes of Google to try and topple their big challengers with a great disruptive strategy. But you have to pick your fights carefully. Facebook is not for the beating. LinkedIn groups/communities area… well, just maybe.
Spot on, Steve. But it’s not just business profiles. Google’s own existing “Apps” customers (you know, the ones who PAY them for hosted email, docs, etc. so they can provide it free to everyone else) haven’t even been able to sign up as individuals (and still can’t).
The way Google is shunning brands and businesses could end up being the death of Google+. When they finally come running, cap in hand, I think a lot of businesses will remember how they’ve been treated.
Ah great shout Niall – I have seen plenty of disgruntlement – and frankly, confusion – at Google+’s lack of integration with Apps.
I just think it stems from their short-sightedness at who they should be competing with, and which market they are grabbing. To 90% of everyday consumers, Google will always remain a search engine, and maybe an email host. To translate that to a social network, to the loyal consumer who loves Facebook, is asking way too much – without huge amounts of promotion.
Businesses will trial, experiment, and show much less loyalty. Consumers are creatures of habit.
Good post Steve. As just discussed on Twitter, I agree with this take. Their biggest opportunity to make anything work for the average consumer would be through a very innovative integration with Youtube I think, making a video share in some way become a 1 click G+ invite or some such thing (video comments go instantly out into a G+ post)..
That doesn’t appear to have happened, so that means the biggest user group is definitely proving to be the digital professionals. IT has great opportunity to be a platform for enabling topic based discussion to sit well alongside the more person-focused social graph approach. Getting some of the top people in their field choosing to have their discussions on G+ rather than LinkedIn or Quora would be a big break for Google, and indeed I’ve seen some evidence of this happening.
The big missing part is still company profiles though. Whether this is Linkedin style, backing up individuals to network professionally, build business relationships and (but of course) to recruit…. OR more of a Facebook style consumer brand presence… Having NEITHER of this is a major omission that I really hope is rectified soon. I went hunting the other night for uptodate info on when this feature would be released and drew a blank. Anyone else heard anything?
That said, I’ve just taken a look and noticed the “Watch with your friends – start a G+ hangout” link against a video. It’s a start…
Thanks Gareth for the comments.
Yes Business Profiles are the key.
If they could grab LinkedIn’s business community market – with the company page style akin to Facebook’s – with brands and individuals being able to easily segment chosen contacts into circles – B2B experience could be genuinely beneficial.