If you follow my blog and social networking on G+ you know I get asked a lot of questions. Why that is? I am not sure. I was told it was the fatherly figure I portray in my photo. Whatever it is, these questions all make me think and learn. To me, leaning something is what social networking is all about. But enough about ME!
Now What?
There seems to be this air of uncertainty in the social spaces with people asking me…What’s Next? No knowing what to expect is truly a concern to many since as fast as things are changing in the social spaces many people get left behind by thinking..OH No, not another social network. I think I will sit this one out. Many are finding out quickly they are now sitting in an empty room.
I have been studying this question of What is Next for sometime and my answer is firmly based on the need for everyone who takes social networking seriously and values their time online. As simply as I can put it, people and businesses just need to Get After It on Google+. I wouldn’t be saying this if it was not backed by what I see as strong indications Google is on a mission to change the way social networking is to be done.
Social Search is Here!
No matter if someone is in La-La-Land to be silly or here to make a living..Google is quickly covering all the bases. Does this scare me? No because Google and their leadership has made it clear where they make their money and that is in the Search..not in the social. They are clearly staying clear of sapping the data Google+ users generate in the social community.
Google knows consumer thinking has changed to social. People come to the internet now to find a job, shop, socialize with friends and family. The consumer is online to find things and people they can Trust. How do they accomplish this? The use ‘Search’. Who has the number one search engine in the universe? Do I need to say it? Yes, Google.
Google doesn’t need the data from Google+ simply because the content from G+ is placed in the Google Search engine which is Google’s bread and butter. A brilliant business operations move on Google’s part. I am at awe with their positioning. It is obviously Google has been sitting on the sidelines watching the social spaces develop and taking note of the things that work and don’t. It makes one think Google+ has been in their plan for many years now.
It’s All About Social
Business operations is changing social networking. No longer does a person have to be embarrassingly silly in the social space to get attention to their cause.
No longer does a business have to hire an agency to employee a trillion people to Tweet about them so they can gain traction in the social space.
No longer do people have to post one post after another to get their brand or business ranked on Google’s first page.
All that worthless marketing was wiped away by Google with one stroke of a key that launched Google+.
These instantiate changes is what many of the naysayers of Google+ can’t get over. The change to a true social based platform was made too fast for them to recover the millions of dollars (or whatever currency) they invested in setting up their flash bang digital footprint in other social spaces. Gimmicky social media was killed when G+ was born.
I know you have heard me yak about the benefits of G+ before so it should not be any surprise when I say the flight of millions of people from other social spaces to G+ is leaving a lot of people behind. What this change is doing is ..yes..generating a lot of questions. Let’s take a look at the ones that are really burning and is causing many people to not make the needed changes they got to make.
What Happened to the interaction in My Social Space?
Everyday I hear from one of my old friends from Facebook telling me their volume of interaction on FB is near nothing compared to a year ago. Of course I also hear from those telling me they are getting even more interaction on FB which when I look at their FB account I find they usually are part of the first adaptors when FB was just for college students. So their interaction generally is with people they went to school with or friends who are finding they losing their friends to G+ and moving.
This fall off of interaction in the other social spaces like when people start leaving a party at the end of a long evening. It leaves fewer people to talk with so you tend to start talking a lot to one or two people. That seems to be what is going on with FB and Twitter..but we will never hear the diehards of these spaces admit this since it would place them being in a social space that is going nowhere. The fact is, interaction is slowing in other spaces because too many people post anti-social content. This pushes more people to leave and those people who leave are friends of a friend who maybe posting social content. Naturally when the community dries up thee is less interaction to anything posted. Eventually the stream becomes more or less Spam.
Why Should I Be on G+?
I am taunted..yes..taunted by many people who will not let go of the fact social networking has changed. They say I am wasting my time on G+. Many will even go so far to say G+ is just a flash in the pan and is just one of the many ‘fads’ Google has created that they will not be supported which will lead Google to dump it for something else their employees think will be cool to do.
Of course many of the taunts get rather vicious but they usually come from those who have a lot to loss financially if they loss more of their community to G+. There are also the folks who came over to G+..opened an account..do not set up a photo or a profile and since they did not get a thousand people immediately following them proclaim G+ a waste of time. Yes..there are real people who did this and that is what has been going on for a year now. None of which has stopped the millions who now are residing happily on G+..and like it.
But..I digress… the reason why everyone should be on G+ is simple. It is a pure Social Platform. Yes, it can be used as a social network..used to find new friends..a date..a business associate..a job…and the list goes on with all that G+ can do. G+ is also for businesses..who want to use real social media.
The One Place to Be!
The clincher is unlike the other social spaces..G+ cares how people socialize and care who is on G+. If someone gets their kicks out of Spamming the universe…G+ takes care of them..and takes care of them Right NOW. It is clear by the action I have witnessed in real time, Google is not out to fill their database with anyone or thing that can produce a profile. They are out to build a community of trustworthy users who will enhance their search engine search with trustworthy content.
Google knows the value of a clean user base and it benefits them as well as the users to keep the platform clean. Nobody likes shopping in a Mall where the trash cans are running over and there are ‘hawkers’ getting in people’s faces to sell them some miracle go juice. Google apparently does not want that either..so they have a fleet of employees combing the streams content looking for the people who just don’t Get It!.
Safety in a pure social environment is the main benefit Google+ offers. If you don’t see any benefit to responding to the community when talked to you or if you only are out to use the billboard type of marketing…you might not want to be on G+ since it would not take long for the community you built to be filled with the same type of attitude towards social media. That does not sound like a fun nor profitable place to be.
How Do You Build a Community on G+ When My Friends Are Not on G+?
This seems to be the biggest challenge people face. Many people do not want to do something New. Plus they do not want to move to a social network where all their friends will do not follow. Seems there are many, many people who are pressured to follow someone if they want to be included in the In Crowd. This happens offline as well as online. Everyone wants to be accepted by everyone. This is why many people will not make a move to G+ unless the person they are influenced by moves with them
What is taking place is their friends are moving over to G+ and not telling them. Interesting behavior to say the least. If the person who says their friends are not on G+ were to check their friends list, or followers, they probably have left their presence on other social networks and are on G+.
In reality it is not about if someone’s friends are on G+ or not. What it is all about is being social. A person could know nobody on G+ and once they make a social presence as someone interesting to talk to, fun loving and open to having a REAL conversation, they find New friends come to them instead of they hunting for them. What is interesting, once someone does this, they find their OLD friends from Facebook start popping in to say..Wsup!
Keep it Social!
There are a ton more questions I am asked, but these seem to be the ones people are getting hung up on and is what is keeping them from making the move they need to make to stay ahead of the change in social networking. It’s all about social. Let me know how I can help
