Google+ or Minus?

Like so many of us who are working on our profiles and accounts such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook—plus blogging—another social media service to keep up with just seemed less than appealing.

I’ve been following well-known experts to learn about their insights, tips, and beliefs about Google+, and there is controversy. Some experts remain excited while others have a rather ho-hum take on the new social platform. Interestingly enough, since this is a new platform, most of the webinars, seminars, and articles are fee based. Learning options for the other platforms that have been around longer tend to be free for at least the starter versions.

Google+ has had an impact on other social media sites. Facebook quickly made changes that mirrored Google+ and one can assume they might be a bit worried. In the meantime, Twitter continues to grow both in membership and usage and has rolled out updates and new features as well. Obviously Facebook hasn’t exactly fallen off the map, however I am meeting and speaking with several people who just flat out quit Facebook—they had enough, and that was that. Each mentioned momentary withdrawal symptoms but they quickly overcame them.

©iStockphoto.com/GiorgioMagini

So to Google+ or not is the question at hand.

Google has quickly integrated Google+ features on the internet and mobile, especially the app that integrates Circles into mobile phones. This feature is being heavily marketed and well received by users.

The natural progression since the roll out of being able to ‘plus’ an article or any web page, an act similar to the ‘like’ on Facebook, is a social signal that I believe – along with many experts – that will impact SERP (search engine results page). What better way to vote for quality and relevancy than to measure the ‘+’ on a page?

My advice: if you need to let one of the other social media sites slip a little to get started with Google+, then so be it, but if you can get this started and keep the momentum on all fronts then that would be ideal. I wouldn’t wait too long to get started—if your competitors are ahead of you then you could lose rankings in the meantime.

There are several good articles out there on how to use Google+, and even Google has great posts to get you started. Here are some links that I’ve found particularly helpful, and please drop a comment with any links that have helped you on your way to Google+ mastery.

Introducing Pages for Google+

Get started with a local Google+ page

Differences between Google+ Pages and Google+ Profiles

Google Plus Tutorial: How To Make Your Stay Pleasant And Useful

Google Plus Tutorials – collection from John Jantsch, DuctTape

I have started my Google+ profile and I warmly welcome you to my circles. And yes, we also started a Google+ page for Bumblebee but I confess that I haven’t gotten it going yet so stay tuned—that is one of our major 2012 TO-DOs.