Is Google+ worth the effort?
I didn’t understand the appeal of Google+, which is why I decided to read Guy Kawasaki’s What the Plus! Google+ for the Rest of Us.
In his chapter on “Why I love Google+,” Kawasaki says, “Google+ has powerful and sophisticated features that the competition doesn’t, and Google+ does things in ways that make more sense to me.”
Here’s my take on the case for Google+ based on Kawasaki’s chart comparing features of Google+, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Google+
- Allows longer posts
- Offers the most robust videoconferencing–Bill Winterberg’s naming Google+ Hangouts on Air the best client-facing technology of 2012 has me taking a second look.
- Offers better post visibility than Facebook, which limits visibility based on Edgerank
That’s not enough to get me excited about Google+. I have an account so I can keep learning. After all, I hated Twitter the first few weeks I used it. Now I’d hate to live without it.
If you’d like to learn about using Google+ effectively, the rest of Kawasaki’s book offers tips that would probably help if I took the time to apply them.
More reasons to consider Google+
I’ve started to like Google+ a bit better since I originally drafted this blog post in November 2012. Three things stand out for me.
- Google+ Communities make it easier for me to engage with others.
- Google Authorship can help me rank better in online searches. Michael Kitces convinced me of this with his communications, including “Why Every Financial Planner With A Blog Needs a Google+ Page, Now.”
- Google+ has yielded more helpful comments than other social media on some questions I’ve posted.
Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from McGraw-Hill in return for agreeing to write about it.
