If you say Google+ you are a very enlightened person. If you say Social Search..you are very in tuned to what is going on in the world of social networking and social media..or you have been reading my blogs.
Let’s take a look why G+ will lead the way to how social networking will change.
Let Me Google That
If you were to ask the person next to you if they know where you could get a deal on a set of tires for your car 99% of the time they are going to say..I am not sure, have you searched Google?
Or if they are a great friend, and someone who Gets what social is all about, they might stop reading about what some dude who believes he is Batman has to say on Facebook and reply with..I don’t know, let me Google that for you.
Nonetheless, where everyone goes to find what they need or want to know about is Google. Even if they use Bing or Yahoo..they will most likely refer to it as Google because Google has done a great job over the years branding their business as the Go-To search engine.
Social Search
Where all of this is leading is now social networking is becoming commonly know as Social Search. Consumers are wanting to know what others are saying about the tires they are thinking of buying..or about the tire store that has the best deal on the brand of tire they want. So where do they go to find that information? Yep..you got it..they Google it.
Like it or not, consumers are people and businesses love consumers. Fortunately..or unfortunately, businesses are what make the social world online go around. Businesses are who pay the bills for social networking platforms.
So smart businesses are going to find and build tools for people to find what need in their social space. Google is one of those smart businesses and they have built Google Plus (or Google+ for the purest) to facilitate the accumulation of content for all things social.
Since consumers are now more interested in getting the person on the streets view point on a specific produce, Google now offers in the search field what people are saying about the product. Each time someone on G+ mentioned the product the consumer is searching for, that comment will pop up on Google Search Screen. The comments everyone makes on G+ show up in the search. This is what Social Search is all about and is now becoming more than a trend.
What makes Social Search even more interesting..or powerful..is now even comments made about other people and what they are doing..or not doing.. can be searched. Depending on how you look at this it could be fortunate or unfortunate, but is what is of interest to a large number or people…and remember who is interested in large numbers of people seeing their product..yes, businesses.
So the stage is set..has been set for over a year now..for social networking to change to Social Search. Whoever best can fill this need for immediate access to information is going to be the place people will go..or have to go..to get this information.
Controlling-Improving-Promoting
What Google+ offers that no other social platform will be able to match is it’s immediate publishing of the G+ content provided to the search engines. Naturally, those who use the social space as a place to have personal conversation are going to scoff at the need for what they say to personal friends as being search worthy. And granted many things people say online really are not search worthy. Unfortunately, since all of the social networks developed today are built to make money from the content it’s users offer up, there really is no un-search worthy content as far as the owners of these sites are concerned.
What G+ offers that none of the other social platforms offer is a place for people, places and things (PPT) to use to create a positive image or better control of the information they want the world to see. G+ also offers a secondary location for content which serves as a validation of the PPT’s existence.
The PPT who avoid using G+, for whatever reason, will be avoid of the exposure to the social search. What will eventually happen as more and more people find the benefits of social search is those PPT’s who do not show up with a G+ existence will not be taken seriously by the consumer.
So, you can be a PPT who is happy with being part of the social networks where people who think they really are Batman reside and posting photos of them hanging around without a shirt is normal..or be part of G+ where you can find out why that person thinks they are Batman and the reason that person is not interested in wearing a shirt in public.
It’s all about social ya’ll and now it is can all be searched.
Let me know how I can help.
