Google +

At the beginning of this blog I discussed what social media I was a part of, not including Google +.  But, today I read an interesting article explaining why it is becoming necessary to be a part of this network along with the perks of being a member.  I'm not going to join just because of this article, and I don't want to quite yet, but I thought the points they come up with were very interesting and beneficial to any business or person that is hoping to expand their social media footprint.

On Social Media Today there was an article, "7 Reasons You Need to be Using Google Plus Now", that talks about how important Google Plus can be for a business or people and how it is better than Facebook and Twitter.  Really? But don't we consider those the epitome of what social media sites are supposed to be?  Don't we as college students consider those the CORE sites for social networking?

Anyways, the author goes on to give us 7 points on why we should use Google Plus and how Google is the biggest thing on the internet.  In my opinion a lot of these reasons make tons of sense and people using Google Plus are doing it right.  However, as a college senior I feel very fulfilled in my social media and do not have the time to spend on another website every night.

The Reasons:
1. Google Integration- we all use Google search, Gmail, Chrome, Google Maps, YouTube, G-chat, and Calendar which are all owned by Google.  So, having Google Plus integrates your dominating Google internet even more.

2. Google Plus Hangout- It's cool: you can have up to 9 people video chatting at once where you can share content

3. Google Circle makes managing your friends fun and easy- You are required to place your friends in a circle when added so it's easy and you aren't backed up doing all your friends or never doing it like on Facebook

4.  Privacy-  Google does a great job of keeping your privacy private.  On Google Plus you can click a few buttons and erase all of your personal data

5.  Higher Rank in Google Search- if you have a Google Plus account and you are a business you have a higher rank in the search engine. Others can find you easier.

6. Sparks- Sparks doesn't make you open a new tab or page when viewing something so you can search external sites within Google Plus and share easier.

7. Google Plus is Facebook and Twitter combined- You have instant updates like Twitter trending on the Explore but can still form a detailed profile and share with others.

These 7 reasons make perfect sense on why Google Plus is a cool social media site to be on.  Anything dealing with Google and the internet obviously go hand and hand and it was only a matter of time before Google made their move to come out on top again.  With Google Plus, Google is allowing people to use all of their Google owned internet sites and the new craze of social media.  My favorite is the sparks.  I feel like I am constantly opening new tabs to search stuff I see on social media and it's nice to know someone made it possible to search while staying on the site you really wanted to be on.  Also, I think that the Google Search ranking for businesses is huge.  Just by having a Google Plus you get better rankings in searches- that's awesome.  And super easy and lucky.  Especially when most people use the Google Search engine to find things anyways.

I think that this article makes great points about what Google Plus has to offer and how they are competitive with the big boys.  I'd love to hear more about how people like me use Google Plus besides just chatting with their friends at the same time.  I feel like it is more beneficial for businesses and people who need to host conference calls through videos than people like me.