Google Plus opens doors to everyone

Google + is now open to everyone after two and a half months of closed testing and being an invitation-only service. On the company’s official blog, Google’s Social Vice-President of Social Business, Vic Gundotra wrote:

“We’re ready to move from field trial to beta, and introduce our 100th feature: open signups.”

Google is looking to expand its presence in the social media market with Google + and when quizzed about competitors such as Facebook on the BBC, Gundotra responded by saying:

“Well, we expect people use many different tools to share. The most popular mechanism people use to share today, still is email. Then, of course, there are the other services you mentioned.”

In a way it was an apprehensive response by Gundotra but more so it was realistic. Facebook has been around since 2004 and has accumulated 750+ million users, leaving Google + languishing behind with around 25+ million users at present.

It’s by no means doom and gloom for Google, far from it. To have obtained more than 25 million users at such an early stage is an impressive feat within itself, considering that it took Facebook over three 3 years to acquire 20 million active users. It’s true to say that Facebook was an innovator in the social media market and had no real marketing drive when first launched compared to the powerhouse that is Google. Nevertheless to have 25 million users’ early doors is a great springboard for Google + to go on and achieve great things.

What does Google Plus have to offer?

Google has provided a number of new features on the back of the public launch of Google +, which a writer from Slash Gear sums up nicely:

“Want to video chat via G+ on your phone? You can do that today. Want to broadcast a video for the public? You can do that today. Want to share your screen, share a live-drawn sketchpad, work with Google Docs, or name a Hangout to handle your specific needs? All of that is live today.”

Improvements to Google + Hangouts, includes the ability to utilize them on Android devices (versions 2.3 and higher), however you are unable to use Hangout features on the iPhone and Blackberry. Google + Hangouts is where you can chat live on video from your computer or mobile device with up to 10 people. Beyond the ability to support two way chat for up to 10 people, there are a number of other standout features with the most pioneering app on Google Plus being more about work rather than play. Google Docs is now available live over Hangouts, making live face-to-face collaboration possible on the web for free. Hangouts can be viewed to be a rival of BlackBerry’s BBM and iPhone’s Facetime.

It's the first Plus feature that's categorically different than anything Facebook can do. Facebook has made a number of changes recently, but it’s unlikely that they will go in this direction. Google Docs provides cloud-powered collaboration - outside of the pricey enterprise market. Hangouts allow people to work remotely together and all of these capabilities are for free and without adverts.

Perhaps, Skype can feel more threatened than Facebook. If Hangouts starts off positively and continues to grow in popularity, there is a possibility for it to takeover Skype in the video conferencing scene. Although you can have a call conference with over 20 people on Skype, video calls can only be carried out on a one to one basis compared to 10 people on Hangouts. In addition, the ability to synchronize Google Plus documents while on a video chat is a feature that Skype cannot compete with. Real-time collaboration could be at the heart of success for Google if they communicate the positives and benefits well, which they often don’t. There are a number of Google products that have failed to take off in the past due to their lack of marketing, including Blogger, Picassa, Videos and many more.

There are those who believe that Google + will fizzle out and at best will be a social media equivalent to what Microsoft Bing is to search engines. However, if Google + carries on being innovative, offering new experiences with features such as Hangouts, there is no reason as to why Google can’t make a real go of it. Facebook has felt threatened enough to recently launch a number of new features challenging what were initially Google’s selling points. The social network has renovated friend lists and has made changes to the news feed, which are reminiscent of Google + Circles. It will be interesting to see how the next 12 months will pan out for the two social networking platforms.

At present, Google is trying to aggressively push their social media channels to compete with the likes of Facebook. They invested in Google Plus and will continue to do so in order to increase its popularity to be on a level platform with Facebook.