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Google+ adds brand pages

Kathryn McConnachie
By Kathryn McConnachie, Digital Media Editor at ITWeb.
Johannesburg, 08 Nov 2011

Google has officially rolled out its long awaited Google+ Pages on its fledgling social platform.

On the official Google blog, senior VP of engineering Vic Gundotra says: “So far Google+ has focused on connecting people with other people. But we want to make sure you can build relationships with all the things you care about - from local businesses to global brands - so we're rolling out Google+ Pages worldwide.”

Last month, speaking at the Web 2.0 Summit, in San Francisco, Gundotra said users will begin to see the Google+ strategy coming together by Christmas this year - and the launch of brand pages is part of that strategy.

Reuters reports that the move to open the Google+ doors to businesses may entice visitors to spend more time on the social network, and could help Google match its competitor, Facebook.

The Google+ Pages appear similar to Facebook Pages, with a profile picture in the right hand corner, and five images in a banner across the top of the stream (the equivalent of the Facebook “Wall”).

Facebook is, however, still to release its updated profile design, “Timeline”, which is expected to be applied to brand pages as well.

Hang out

According to Gundotra, there are already 20 existing brand pages that have been specially created on Google+; these include The Muppets, Pepsi, Angry Birds and Toyota.

A differentiating factor for Google+ Pages is the “hang out” feature, which allows for group video chats between brands and their fans.

“This means we can now hang out live with the local bike shop, or discuss our wardrobe with a favourite clothing line, or follow a band on tour,” says Gundotra.

“Not only can they recommend you with a +1, or add you to a circle to listen long-term, they can actually spend time with your team, face-to-face-to-face.”

Search advantage

Google will also incorporate the Google+ Pages into its search results.

“We're rolling out two ways to add pages to circles from Google search. The first is by including Google+ pages in search results, and the second is a new feature called Direct Connect,” says Gundotra.

Direct Connect allows Google users to add a “+” in front of their search (such as +Angry Birds) and they will automatically be navigated to the relevant Google+ Page.

“Direct Connect works for a limited number of pages today (like +Google, +Pepsi, and +Toyota), but many more are coming.”

Google+ was released in a limited field trial in June, but officially opened up to the public at the end of September. The social platform now has over 40 million registered users, and has been struggling to contend with social networking juggernaut Facebook and its 750 million active users.

Google strategy

While Google+ saw an explosion of growth and activity in the days following its public rollout, analytics firms have reported that the interest in the social network appeared to have dropped.

Web analytics firm Chitika Insights published a report saying Google+'s growth spurt was short-lived and traffic on the site dropped by 60% to roughly the same level of activity it recorded before going public.

At the Web 2.0 conference, Gundotra, however, argued that reports on Google+ user numbers misunderstand the search giant's strategy.

According to Gundotra, Google wants to activate the users of existing Google services, bringing a social layer to its ecosystem rather than creating a separate social network.

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