Google+ has grown at monstrous rates this past month, but new users have also started to finally drop off; leaving Google+ with substantially fewer users than Facebook. In an effort to enhance the user experience Google+ added games to their interface.
Some of the games they have added are popular games of which many are also available in the Google Chrome app store as well. One of the highest profile and most recognized names is Angry Birds. Some of the other games now available to play online at Google+ are:
City of Wonder which looks like Facebook’s Gardens of Time (I love this game
and I never play games.)
Angry Birds
Monster World
Dragons of Atlantis
Sudoku Puzzles
Zynga Poker
Zombie Lane
Wild Ones
Flood-It
Dragon Age Legends
Bubble Island
Crime City
Edgeworld
Collapse! Blast
Bejewelled Blitz Beta
Diamond Dash
In this online world where stickiness (how long visitors stay and interact) really matters to your member growth, online buzz, and ad selling opportunities, adding games is a very smart idea at this point.
To remain current and grab market share of the social networking phenomena, Google has rolled out as a beta test Google+, which is touted to be Twitter and Facebook all rolled into one application. So will it be a Facebook Killer or just another failed attempt by Google to get into the social game?
Google+ Screen Shot
What exactly is Google+
More than the +1 button, Google+ is a new online social networking application. Reviews so far have been good, but not everyone has seen it yet. I received my invitation in the middle of July and am heavily testing the application. For now, only a few users are in the game, but the press so far has been tentative based on Google’s other tries in social media.
With Google+ you are able to friend anyone, like on Twitter, and read their updates without getting an approval to friend someone as you may have to do on Facebook. Users will have to group followers into circles. Permissions can be given to your own personal circles to allow certain types of updates or posts to be seen selectively by the people you desire.
Google has banned businesses so far and is only allowing individual users access. Additionally no third party tools for post scheduling have been allowed API access to the platform.
Here are a few of the key features you will find in Google+:
Hangouts – allow up to ten people to video conference together or share live video feeds. Facebook only allows you to see one person at a time with their video application that is using the Skype backbone. Google+ seems to be adding in the “fun” factor with this but will it really be used?
Huddle – connects all your friends via desktop, SMS, iPhones, and Androids. It is a group messaging application that allows you to connect with the circles you select. Want to meet everyone for drinks after work? Do a quick huddle and get your friends connected at your favorite spot.
Sparks – are topics which are a Google determined compilation of sites on a topic you select such as sports, technology, or other keyword. Google calls this a “sharing engine”. There is no way to add a specific feed to follow or link, so Sparks is not really a XML feed aggregator. For now you have to read what Google supplies in that topic without a way to customize the sites you want to see in that topic. This has the biggest potential for website owners to get inbound traffic as if your site is picked up in a Sparks link you could drive literally thousands of visitors to your site to read an interesting article, blog post, or web page.
The Google+1 button is like the Facebook Like button. Clicking the button allows you to vote up in the organic search results things you like as well as to tag a like, website, and even AdWords ads and share them with your friends or Google+ Circles.
What is the feedback so far on Google+?
So far the feedback from pros using it has been good. The comments have ranged far and wide:
“As of Thursday [7/14/11], he writes, Google+ was 66.4 percent male and 33.6 percent female, according to his sampling.” More…
“What he proceeds to show me is a product that in many ways is so well designed that it doesn’t really even look like a Google product. ” More…
“A big feature of Google+ is the toolbar that exists across the top of all Google sites (yes, the aforementioned black one). Once your Circles are set, sharing with any of them from any Google site is simple thanks to this toolbar.” More…
Now Google has built “it” will people come?
That will be the real key once more people start to get access to Google+. Can users be convinced to leave Facebook and move their connection and activities to Google+? And Google is really banking on that action.
My feeling is that once people like something hate to change, and people like Facebook. If all your friends don’t move to Google+ you would still have to manage both applications which would be very problematic and potentially leading to a failure for Google.
Ease of use will also be key. If it is hard to connect or hard to keep your information private Google+ will go the way of Google Buzz and Orkut. I think that the big carrot to move to Google+ for business people and website owners will be that they will be able to capture SEO/organic juice from the Google+1 activity which will be integrated into Google.com. I am not sure that mainstream America will embrace Google+. Facebook is comfortable, easy and able to be locked down for privacy. Although Google+ looks cool, and there’s lots of buzz about the product, if your friends aren’t there you won’t be there either!
Another late breaking note is that Google+ has now banned business profiles which I feel is a very big mistake, but they are not asking my advice – at this point. 🙂
In conclusion, it is from my own view point, that it is simply too soon to say if Google+ is a Facebook killer. From the press and previews it appears that Google has really worked outside the box to try to shape the future of social media with their new Google+ application. Google’s got a lot riding on the success of the application too, as they really need a win to retain relevancy in the search market that is becoming more personalized and keep their dominance in online advertising which they deliver on their properties. If Google+ is received well expect aggressive competition to happen with Facebook for users.
Get in the queue for an invitation.
If you think you want to be an early tester and possible advocate for Google+, here’s the link to sign up to get an early invitation. Or, you can just contact me with your GMail or Google account user name and I will send you an invitation now. My personal reaction so far is that Google+ is fun, kind of like Facebook, but more link and information driven for now than Facebook.
If you didn’t know, Google AdWords is now allowing you to track phone calls from Google generated phone numbers attached to your Google AdWords ads. The big news is that we are really seeing measurable results with this new feature. For clients and account managers this now validates what Google AdWords has said all along; that Google AdWords ads are more than clicks, activity impacts off line activity and phone calls. Now we have the real proof!
It only costs a click plus $1 per phone call to get in the game. Although enabling this function does not track every single phone call that an AdWords ad may actually generate for your account, it does show hesitant clients the true power of AdWords beyond scripted form conversion response tracking.
We have enabled this feature in all of our own client accounts this past month and boy are we starting to see some results! For my own personal account I have always known that people will sit on my landing page and not fill out my form, which is tracked by an AdWords conversion script, but will pick up the phone and call me right there. Now with phone tracking I can actually determine which phone calls came from direct AdWords activity – a powerful thing!
The phone number is only shown at the top of your AdWords ad and will not appear on your landing page, the phone number may change. Besides that Google doesn’t really share what the phone number is with you. What Google does do is forward that call from a Google generated toll free number to your selected office phone and then record the call in your AdWords account.
Not every ad shown will show the phone number. So far we are seeing the phone number show on less than half of all ad impressions, but the results for many clients is striking. Find out more about call metrics by reading this blog post on the AdWords blog so you can take advantage of this new feature too.
If you have not tried out Google+ yet contact me with your GMail or Google account ID and I will send you an invitation if you cannot sign up. I am not totally sure that Google+ will replace Facebook or Twitter but so far I am having fun playing around with it. One of the interesting things about Google+ is the Sparks section.
This section is kind of like the old AOL keyword section or Technorati’s blog sections. Twitter has something similar to Sparks too. Sparks are Google derived best items grouped by categories. I haven’t found out how you get your own content into the Sparks section as it appears totally Google controlled for now, but if you make it there the traffic could be huge.
With Sparks being easy to read and interesting newsy current articles all on one theme, you can go into information over load if you are not careful. You can even create your own Sparks categories by entering in a short keyword phrase. How and why Google chooses to return certain sites, blogs, or articles is unknown, but may potentially hold the key to not only big traffic but good organic placement.
My feeling so far about Google+ is mixed. I like the interface, but no one I really want to connect with is really there right now, not even family members or co-workers. I see the potential, but it may simply be too hard to get people to move out of Facebook and into Google+. There are just no really big incentives to move right now.
What has your impression of Google+ been so far if you have been using it? Do you like it? Do you think you will stick with it or drift back to Twitter and Facebook?
