Google Plus: Waste of Time, or Vital Tool?
Google+ launched in June 2011 to much fanfare. Some commentators predicted it would slay Facebook. Others anticipated a rapid demise for the network.
Neither predictions came to pass.
On the one hand, Google Plus grew at lightening speed. By December 2012, it had over 500 million users, on a par with Twitter, and around half of Facebook’s total userbase.
On the other hand, Google Plus remains a a social media ghost town. Though it has half a billion users, almost no one actually uses it, at least not regularly.
Is it really worthwhile for freelancers to use Google Plus? Or is it best to watch from the sidelines to see what its future holds?
Let’s take a look and see how using Google Plus can benefit you as a freelancer.
Improved Privacy
One of Google Plus’s biggest wins over Facebook is its intuitive privacy settings.
Google Plus makes it easy to protect your privacy, as circles are intuitive.
Facebook’s privacy settings are notoriously difficult to set, meaning that unless you’re extremely vigilant, personal photos or updates can leak to clients.
Even if you don’t use your personal Facebook profile to promote your business, if you’re anything like me, at least some of your clients are on your friend list, so the lines between personal and professional are somewhat blurred.
With its Circles feature, Google Plus does away with the blurred boundaries. You can put clients into one circle, and send them updates about your niche and business. Friends and family go into another circle, into which you post personal updates. Your network of fellow freelancers can go into another circle, where you can openly discuss questions or problems you’re having on a project without clients peeking over your shoulder.
Google Plus makes it easy to protect your privacy, as circles are intuitive.
Note: Facebook offers a similar feature to circles, known as lists. However, creating a list on Facebook is a hassle, and even when you’ve made them, with Facebook’s constant privacy changes, they never feel as watertight as you’d like them to be.
Hangouts and Collaboration
Google Plus’s signature feature is its hangout function. Hangouts provide free video calls with up to ten participants. Considering Skype charges for this feature, it’s a big reason to get onto Google Plus.
As a freelancer, Hangouts are perfect for meeting with clients, networking with other freelancers, or simply creating a virtual co-working space. Set it up with freelancer friends across the country, or even around the world, and it’s like having them in the office with you.
Hangouts are the main reason I use Google Plus as a freelancer. I use it for meeting with clients, getting to know other freelancers, and collaborating on projects. Nothing beats a face to face discussion.
Authorship and Google Local
If hangouts isn’t a big enough reason to use Google Plus, then either Authorship or Google Local should be.
When you claim authorship of an article using Google Plus, your name and face show up next to the title of the article in Google’s search results.
Google Plus authorship is ideal for freelance writers and any freelancers who use writing as a marketing tool.
When you claim authorship of an article using Google Plus, your name and face show up next to the title of the article in Google’s search results. This boosts brand recognition. It also demonstrates authenticity, increasing the trust of potential clients.
Google Local, meanwhile, helps your business show up in local search results. This is ideal for freelancers whose clients are in a particular location, such as hairdressers, carpenters, lawyers or gardeners.
While a Google Plus account isn’t required to register your business with Google Local, having a combined Google Local and Google Plus account gives your brand a unified presence in the Google eco-system.
Extended Updates
For freelancers who want to engage their clients and prospects with more than 140 characters at a time, yet who don’t want the hassle of maintaining a professional blog, Google Plus offers an ideal middle way.
According to Google, there’s no character limit on Google Plus updates. User tests have found the actual limit to be 100,000 characters, which is the length of a short novella.
If you’re thinking about setting up a blog to share your thoughts and expertise, it’s worth considering Google Plus.
The Big Drawback
Now we’ve looked at the positives of Google Plus for freelancers, let’s look at why it might be a waste of time. There’s one big reason: No one’s there!
Well, this isn’t completely true. Google Plus has over 500 million members. And every day, millions of people move around the margins of Google Plus through Google Local, Hangouts, Picasa and Social Search.
Yet the core of Google Plus, its social network, is hardly used at all. It’s a social networking ghost town.
Google Plus membership exploded in the first couple months after it launched, leading some to speculate that it would quickly go head-to-head with Facebook and Twitter.
That hasn’t happened.
Research in 2012 found Google Plus users spend an average of three minutes a month on the network. That compares to six hours a month for the average Facebook and Pinterest user, and 1.5 hours a month for the average Twitter user.
Worse than that, even users who start off enthusiastic will gradually tail off their usage. Research by RJM Metrics found 30% of users who make a public post on Google Plus never make a second one, and for those who make more than one public post, there’s an average of 12 days between posts.
Additionally, over time the number of public posts a user makes declines.
From that point of view, it looks like Google Plus is headed for the scrapheap.
All this begs the question: unless your kids, partner, family, friends, freelance colleagues and clients start using Google Plus, is it really worth being there?
Sure, it has better privacy, but what’s the point of privacy if no one’s listening?
A Phoenix From The Flames
Google Plus isn’t Google’s first foray into social networking.
Google Buzz and Google Wave both ended up in Google’s graveyard, along with many other Google experiments including Google Sidewiki and Google Notebooks.
Is Google Plus headed the same way?
Given the level that Google has integrated Google Plus into its core product – search – this seems unlikely. Despite the struggle to win users over to its features, Google hasn’t shut away Google+ in its closet of failures, as it did with Buzz and Wave, so it looks probable the network is here to stay.
Google is backing this horse, and when Google speaks it’s worth taking notice.
What’s more, the network is still slowly pulling in bloggers, YouTube viewers, small businesses and games.
Google Plus could still rise from its current position. Entrepreneur Dave Llorens recently put his neck on the line to back Google Plus. In a Fast Company article, he wrote:
“I’m willing to stake my reputation on the following statement: If Google Plus doesn’t have a staggering number of active users by the end of 2013, you can all come over to my office and pie me in the face.”
Google Plus: Worth It For Freelancers?
The jury’s out, but that’s no reason to avoid Google Plus.
Google Plus is the best designed social network for freelancers, solopreneurs and small business owners. Features such as Hangouts, Local and Authorship make it attractive right now, even if engagement on the core network is low.
If more people start using it, it will become the place to go. But for now? It’s worth being there, and there’s no need to devote a lot of time to it to reap the benefits.
Why not sign up for an account – or log in if you have a Google account already – and take a look around?
Take some time to learn it and get a feel for it. Don’t worry if it seems a little overwhelming. It always takes time to get familiar with a new social network.
If you need a helping hand, I’ll be guiding you through Google Plus series of Freelance Switch articles devoted to Google Plus. I’ll show you:
- How to set up and optimize your Google Plus freelancer account.
- Who to put in your Google Plus circles.
- What to share in your Google Plus updates.
- How to use Google Plus to boost your search rankings.
- How to find and connect with prospective clients.
- How to use Hangouts for business meetings.
- How to use Google Plus as a research and content curation tool.
All these Google Plus articles are coming in the next few weeks.
What Do You Think?
I’d like to know more about how you use Google Plus as a freelancer.
Do you use Google Plus? If so, how often do you post updates? Do use it to connect with clients? What are your favorite Google Plus tools? In your opinion, is Google Plus here to stay, and if so, is it worth it for freelancers?
Leave a Comment
There’s so many social networks these days that it’s impossible to stay updated on all of them.
I wouldn’t say it’s impossible, but it takes a lot of time, and from a business perspective, it’s poor strategy to be everywhere. Go where you get the best results.
Here’s why Google Plus has is many users, to comment on any app you download from Google Play you must sign up for Google Plus. Can’t comment if you don’t. On top of that Google uses data from user gmails to market to you. Yep, Google data mines your emails to sell you junk you don’t want, selling it off to 3rd party marketing firms.
Yup, Google is doing everything it can to get everyone on board.
My big beef with Google+ is how hard it is to figure out. It’s as if it was created by people who didn’t get jobs at Facebook. And Facebook made the right hiring decision.
Stay tuned for helpful tips!
What do you have problems figuring out?
Google Plus just doesn’t work, at least for business, the SM principal is simple, if you are going to create a new platform, don’t complete with the big ones, that is what Instagram (bought by facebook) and Pinterest did and they are getting its own successful path, Google+ is basically has the facebook functionality with a worst layout, it’s still alive just because is supported by Google otherwise, it would be part of a thousand of unknown SM networks
I see exactly what you mean. On the other hand, if something works, why re-invent the wheel?
Google Plus a ghost town? What are you talking about? You’re seriously citing a study done nearly a year ago that had no actual access to Google’s data? That’s totally absurd; you can’t base activity on a network based solely on public posts, and even if you did you’d have to site a more recent study that showed that the ACTIVE user count of Google+ surpassed Twitter by a large margin and now sits as the number two social network in existence, right behind Facebook.
The majority of people on G+ post to their own circles, extended circles, or to Communities (a feature which you didn’t even mention). Take one look at the Google+ Discuss community and tell me again how much of a ‘ghost-town’ it is.
“No one’s there.” Please. You really need to get your facts straight.
I agree there’s lots of controversy around Google Plus (just look at the other comments!), and I aimed to show both sides of the argument in this article.
In my opinion, anytime I write an article, even a factual article (which this isn’t, it’s more of an opinion piece), I’m telling a story. I chose which facts to include, and which to leave out. In terms of the facts I included, they’re very straight, and I’ve cited my sources.
Would be happy to take a look at the evidence for what you’re claiming.
David, why would I bother doing that? You just admitted that you’re perfectly comfortable omitting facts to tell the story that you want to tell, which is all I need to know to convince me to never read another word you write ever again.
@David Masters – Do you have an active G+ account?
I ask because I genuinely would like to know how involved you are, or if you’re simply on the outside looking in, because I think it does make a difference.
I agree with DeAno, it’s not as deserted as it looks. It’s possible that it has to do with the type of niche you’re in – for example, there’s no shortage of tech people on G+. Wil Wheaton, Felicia Day, Linus Torvalds, the GNOME team, the Ubuntu team, and several other not-quite-so-big players are very active there.
Even if that’s the only niche that’s active (which I doubt, given the number of memes I see in the “what’s hot” posts), it’s not much different than Facebook’s start. It took Facebook five years to hit the 500 million active users mark, and 8 years to reach 1 billion, according to Yahoo Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/number-active-users-facebook-over-years-214600186–finance.html).
Also, do you happen to have comparative metrics for Facebook for your statement that “30% of users who make a post on G+ never make another one”? I’m curious to see how they compare, given the differences I’ve seen between “active users” and “signed up users” for Facebook.
DeAno, we all tell stories all the time, whether subconsciously or consciously. Stories, by their nature, include certain facts and exclude others. You can check Noam Chomsky (on the left/critical side of things) or Seth Godin (on the business/marketing side of things) to see where I’m coming from.
If you read the full article, you’ll see I’m overall, positive about Google Plus. For example, I say, “Google Plus is the best designed social network for freelancers, solopreneurs and small business owners.”
I’m not sure why you need to be quite so venomous. I’m always happy to engage in discussion!
Shauna, yup I love using G+, I use it all the time for meeting clients on Hangouts. I don’t have comparative stats for Facebook, though a quick Google search found me an article stating 9% of Facebook accounts are completely inactive/spambots: http://socialeyezer.com/2012/08/26/facebook-cleans-house-by-deleting-all-inactive-and-non-human-accounts/
The article also claims Facebook has 100 million active monthly users, which would leave around 900 million accounts inactive each month.
For me, while Google+ is great for connecting with business owners, marketers, prospects and clients, very few of my personal friends are there, and the ones that are there rarely use it.
As I said to DeAno, it’s a lively debate, with seemingly strong opinions on both sides of the fence, as can be seen from the comments on this article! I aimed to be balanced, and used the most recent research I could find at the time of writing.
Excellent article David,
I would say that now it is a vital tool.
That is if you want SEO traffic.
Slowly Google wants to phase out what they call anonymous internet use so they’ll favor the sites that use Google Authorship.
However I would be interested to see if Yahoo or Bing will come up with there own version.
Thanks, Darnell. Yes, Google Plus is transforming search, so anyone who cares about SEO needs to be there!
I beg to differ — G+ is NOT a ghost town. Any more than Facebook would be a ghost town for you if you started an account, didn’t like or friend anyone and had nobody to talk to.
I have a Facebook page for my Future Expats website, and I have one on G+. I have far more G+ followers, and in about 1/3 the time. That doesn’t spell ghost town to me. With the recent introduction of communities, G+ is even more usable.
If you’re using a mobile device, G+ is far easier to use than FB.
In fact, I’d be exstatic if I could drop Facebook altogether.
I’m with you that Google Plus can mean better engagement. I’ll be looking at that in future articles. But in terms of my friends who hang out there? It’s pretty much empty compared to Facebook.
The biggest issue Google Plus has to face is the “All My Friends are …” issue.
For example, all my friends are on Facebook so that’s where I communicate with them. I have spent the last few years reconnecting with friends that I havent seen in years. And what’s more, my regular group use FB along with texting and phone calls to organise events like going to the movies. In fact when I noted that Shatner and RDA were at the Adelaide Comicon this year a whole slew of friends said “I want to go to that” and now we’re organising it.
Google has to get to that level, or come up with the killer feature that overcomes Facebooks dominance of the example above. Otherwise it will appeal solely to businesses, internet authors and content marketers.
Very true, John. Google is struggling, but it’s certainly twisting our arms to get us all on plus.
Freelancers are micro-businesses, and many of our clients are businesses, so in my view, it’s a good place for freelancers.
Google+ is awesome – my favourite social network bar none, the android app alone is a thing of beauty and wonderment.
Throw in hangouts, sharing with gmail, googledrive, youtube etc – it’s wrong to think of it as a social network – it’s the skeleton that google’s different services hang from with social networking capabilities attached. Throw in the SEO bonus from posting, Google Local integration etc,
The audience issue will take care of itself, as more and more people get pissed off with Facebook tweaking its timeline and bombarding them with ads left, right and in the center of said timeline.
I would go so far to say that if you are a social media professional and ignoring G+ then you are committing Social Media Malpractice.
Love your enthusiasm for G+! Taking a slightly different perspective, I’d say search is Google’s skeleton, but G+ is already a vital organ.
Malpractice is a tad strong, but I’d agree G+ is far better than Facebook as a business networking tool, and on a par with (if not better than) Twitter.
I thing Google plus is really cool, depends on how you use it and what you use it for, maybe this is a weird thought from me, but i think G+ is for smart people, when i joined some of my twitter followers added me to their circles so i have “contacts” there, its fine for me, i love the hangout, and when i post something i get a lot of interest from others, still i thing G+ is a cool site, and again you have to know how to use it
Yes, there’s a lot of smart people on G+, and I think the way it’s designed is conducive to in-depth discussion.
The things I’ve found useful about G+ is claiming authorship of my other online presences, integrating my local places, and using the hangouts. I also love the way people are grouped, the clean design and the more transparent privacy settings.
At the end of the day though, it’s owned and run by Google who are the biggest search engine in the World. To not use the platform and link your accounts with a company who pretty much run the Internet is idiocy.
Vital.
To echo what Brian Clark said, Facebook can be pretty hostile to content marketers. Google+ on the other hand makes it really easy to search and discover content and that’s certainly one of my favorite things about it.
Though I do really like using Google+ I do find that most blogs that I want to follow will still post on Twitter and Facebook and will not post on Google+. So it’s just easier for me to follow people on twitter than on Google+.
The RJM metrics stats you quote are of May 2012 – about ONE YEAR OLD.
How about this – http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/01/26/watch-out-facebook-with-google-at-2-and-youtube-at-3-google-inc-could-catch-up/
I complete agree with Dave Llorens!
I believe Google+ and Authorship is indeed a good thing from the SEO perspective. However it’s latest update with the whole Cover Image thing is a bit of a pain!
Definitely a ghost town. I’ve been using it for nearly a year and have seen it plateau out. 90% of the people who post are narcissists. They want you to +1 their content but never , ever return the favor on good stuff you post. Add to this, that Google tends to favor the popular people and putting them into the limelight and for no valid reason other than they may be some famous celebrity. When someone has 500,000 followers, they can put up a picture of paint drying and will get 200+ likes, while someone who puts in some real content barely gets one like. I see no real future in Google+. I really has nothing compelling to offer over Facebook.