Time for another Facebook question. Ever since the launch of Google’s shiny new project Google+, the heat wave is on all over the internet. Especially the blogosphere full of active discussions, self help articles about using Google plus, discussions about changes in SEO and search results because of this and so on.
All is for good since the more we discuss about something, the clearer we understand about it. I have made quite some posts here at Find All Answers and some guest posts on other blogs related to Google+.
In particular I would like to direct you to the following posts of mine:
Google plus tutorial: How to make your stay pleasant and useful?
Google plus circles and sparks: What do bloggers have in them?
How to be less annoying in Google+
As with any social media, everyone has got a different purpose to land on Google plus. Depending upon this, their time, usage, connections and other parameters on Google+ will change.
Now there are seriously some people who never know why they’re using ANY social media, and I am not talking about them. So if this is you, I strongly advice you to find a purpose for hanging out in any social media.
Coz you can’t make optimal use of it until you know your goal.
That is why I wanted to know if people are really using Google plus by exactly knowing why they are using it. So I shot out a question in Facebook asking my friends about their primary purpose of using Google plus.
I must admit that I was disappointed by the responses for a couple of reasons-
1. There were not many responses as I expected; may be because I asked it still earlier when many have not started using Google plus.
2. The answers themselves - Since I am used to reading people jumping around and super excited about Google plus, I found it disappointing to see that most of my friends don’t really think that it is a great thing!
Let’s see the answers:
Click to enlarge…..
Just “another” social media
Well that’s the most popular answer and it is really interesting (apart from being shocking) that most of my friends use Google plus as just another social media.
Well, that can be quite reasonable when I think how much there is already in the name of social media. While everyone is already comfy with using Twitter, Facebook and other long list of social media sites, this will be just an addition.
Plus, it always takes time to figure out how much better is this thing than the other.
Nothing yet
Seems that a good number of people still are using it for nothing. I mean, they are using it, but not primarily for anything. That pretty much concludes that they are still figuring out.
So far meeting only geeks
I found that strange because geeks can be found anywhere (not only in Google plus), right? No offence, though 
Don’t really deal with Google plus / I don’t use Google+
I can see what they mean. For those who didn’t manage to get an invite and or those who didn’t find time to get on it earlier, it could be less interesting. As time passes on and on some won’t be interested in trying a new thing!
Connecting to new people who weren’t easy to connect with via Facebook
That’s something I’ve never heard of and my dear friend Brankica says it works! This shows that some people are really open on Google plus than they are with Facebook; and that’s why Brankica could “easily” connect with more people on Google plus.
Does this show that most of the people “trust” Google plus (more than Facebook) and keep themselves open? I think so.
Building awareness of my blog
This is my first reason to use Google plus. Since I found that Google+ is going to be a potential social platform and a medium to promote my blog in a targeted manner, I wanted to use it for that purpose, primarily.
Of course I also use it for genuine connections.
Building genuine relationships
As I just said, I use Google+ myself (secondly) for this reason. I love the way I can identify genuine and sane people since there is not much noise when I started to figure out things.
Hangouts with friends and for business
Hangouts is an amazing feature (it’s a shame though I didn’t find time yet to explore it much) both for casual friendly type of conversations and also for business meets.
Since we can include up to 10 people it is great for small group discussions.
That pretty much concludes the options my friends came up with regarding using Google plus. I am sure there are many more uses to Google plus apart from the ones listed below.
So now the ball is in your court. Let me (and the Problogging Success community) know what you use Google plus primarily for.
I haven’t signed up on Google+ yet as I’m waiting to see what their business platforms will be like. Although I’m still a one person shop, it can be debatable whether their business pages or the existing personal pages will be better suited for me. I know that I will eventually get on Google+ but it’s a matter of seeing which of their platforms will be the best one for me. I understand that it will be a few more months before they launch their business platform.
Hey Clint, while you are waiting for Google to launch business profiles, you can still sign up and play with it (not much, say 5-10 mins a day) to see its features and potential effects on your blog.
I may do that Jane. I think I may be hesitating because of my Facebook experience. Like many others, I started out with a personal account on Facebook before creating business pages. Now, I focus much more efforts on my business pages and have little use for my personal page. It just seems that my personal page and one of my business pages are just mirror images of each other as I do roughly the same things there. I was hoping to avoid this same scenario on Google+. But if Google makes you open up a personal account as a requirement before having a business page like Facebook does, I’ll definitely have to go that route.
Interesting responses and so to show you that there are many reason why poeple choose one social media over the other. Me for example, for some reason, was never comfy with FB. I find it to be very noisy and complicated to use. I am one of those click and see what happens kinda guy and unless you dig in a bit more, FB is not easy to leverage on. G+ on the other hand seems to be easier, maybe because it is on its early stages and there are not a lot of “things” to click on (yet). The more features are rolled out, I will understand how things work on a step-by-step basis. Also, the fact that I use other Google products way too much, makes it easier to be tempted using G+ more often.
Anyway, that rant really does not answer the question does it.. For now, I am using it to build connections and organizing in such a way to avoid the “numbers” game like Twitter and FB. I am only adding connections with people I really interact with and that is great. Basically, I am using it to just share interesting thiings I stuble upon, interact with others and patiently waiting for the “business profiles” to get out..
Yes Fran, as I have mentioned in the post, I am disappointed by the number of responses and the responses themselves. And yes, since I have some bad experiences with Twitter and Facebook (as far as the numbers are concerned) I am very careful with expanding my circles.
Hi JANE SHEEBA,
This is really very good and informative article. The points you explained were well chosen and well described too. Thanks for the information.
That picture kind of represents everything i do with Google+ right now. Shit.
I’ve been busy with other sure-thing stuff and didn’t have time to use this experimental Google+ yet. Maybe it’s also because i don’t see it as a real player on the market, hasn’t proven anything yet.
You don’t see it as a real player in the market? I’m surprised!
Jane:
Google+ seems interesting to me, but I haven’t quite gotten on the bandwagon just yet. I already have enough on my plate with all of the *other* social networking sites I use, and adding one more into the mix just hasn’t seemed like a tantalizing idea to me. Maybe one day I will, but for now I’m content with the way things are!
~Natasha
I understand Natasha. It is the same feeling I got when they announced the Google plus project. Felt like ‘ah! another social media?’
Jane,
To be honest I haven’t really dabbled much with Google+ (yet), I have researched and read a lot about it for the past couple of months (even before it was launched), also I do have an account setup but just haven’t really started using it much at all yet. I do intend to change that however and start working on building my circles. I have added you by the way Jane just so you know and hope you add me as well.
I do wish there was the option to create a vanity URL, who knows maybe that is something that will be the case in the future and it’s not all that bad. It’s still fairly new and I believe it has a ways to go yet, but I do see how popular it has quickly become and I can see how much benefit there is to using it.
Certainly Darryl, there are still a lot of improvements needed on the side of Google+ and I am sure the plus team is working on it.
Yeah for sure Jane, they seem to be doing a great job of staying on top of things. Looks like they are making improvements to Google+ quite frequently, most recently with the multiple 150 invites at once feature which is a good thing.
Pretty nice responses … I use google+ for connecting to new people (especially probloggers in my field :P)
Connecting and commuting is the reason for which i use Google Plus also it make me little in Google’s eyes telling them that i use their services.
Pamela, connecting and communicating is a great reason to use Google plus; never mind about your status in the eyes of Google
I have recently seen invitation of Google + in my mail box. You have made easy for myself to enlist myself on this network.
I am so glad I could help you Smith. Hope you like Google+
I haven’t sign up with google plus but if I did probably my main purpose is for networking and for getting blog traffic from it.
Adam, sounds like a good plan. If it is for blog promotion, you better do it asap!
Seem self promotion is the most important reason that a lot of bloggers take part in this new social network.
Jenni - that’s the fact! A fact that cannot be covered, because Google+ is not “really” a social media, that’s what many social media experts say!
I think because of all unique features Google + is more popular than the facebook and now facebook has to introduce something new to compete Google +.
Well, Jamal, that’s how the competition in any business goes. More power to Facebook
I think there is only one unique feature that google + have which cannot be found in facebook and that is the hangouts. But Facebook already team up with skype to address this matter.
Yes and the battle will go on and on
Google has made Plus service in such way to encourage people to cooperate and make difficult to ban each other !
But haters from Poland will always gonna hate
It’s still hard to say where Google+ will fit in. Initially it was being called a “Facebook killer” but I’m not so sure that’s true. The way that connections are formed is actually more like Twitter, so I think that Twitter should be more concerned.
Nick, I think that everyone perceive it in a different manner (as you can see from this very post). For some it is indeed FB killer (for me especially that I can keep it clean) and for other it could be similar to Twitter. It all depends on everyone’s purpose. Thanks for your comment
Hi Jane… I haven’t started using it for anything just yet, but then again, I’ve never been a big Facebook user either. With that said, I do plan on making a go of it. I just need to buckle down and read some of your other Google+ articles to get up to speed.
My primary use would be just networking and that’s about it. I love the simplicity of it.
So far, I’ve only used Google+ to try and connect with people who I knew didn’t have a Facebook… The only problem there is that most of them don’t have a Google+ account either! I’ve made a few connections, but I don’t know if they’re really enough to keep the account going since I do far more work on Facebook.
is google+ really gonna be the next facebook? well i don’t think so… facebook has created its image to us and it has proven a lot..
Only time will tell for sure Jacob. Although it’s too early to tell right now, in my opinion I can see Google+ becoming even more popular over time than it already is. It sure has been successful even in the early stages right out of the gate but of course anything could happen and the social media realm is a competitive one.
I haven’t signed up yet as well as I want to see if it is worth time or not and I don’t want to have my site every where. I know it may sound mot very professional, but I should see that it helps blogs and site to promote.
Anna, it is worth to check out. Even if you do not intend to use heavily you can see what you can achieve by running a little test (say when you are bored with regular activities).
PS: I emailed you twice but couldn’t get a reply. It is about the active commenter lucky draw and you won. But since you didn’t respond with a banner and landing page url, your slot awaits you!
I am not using much of Google Plus yet. As of now I am just building up connections. But after reading your post ‘Google+ Circles And Sparks, What Do Bloggers Have In Them?’ , I am thinking of using it for getting the benefits.
Glad that my post had given you some insights
See you there.
Hi Jane,
I’ve never been a big FB fan and like DiTesco use lots of Google products. For me it is easy to pop in and see what’s new with those in my circles without silly status updates like have on facebook… going to the store now or just ate an egg for breakfast, WHAT Geez that drives me crazy!!
I think Google+ will be more popular after it is public. I noticed the Food Bloggers don’t really post much whereas the blogging/social media crowd is jamming with shares.
The thing like best about it is the control we have. Additionally, lots of the people in my circles communicate, making it interesting.
See you there
Kathy,
That’s a interesting stat you give here. Blogging niche people seem to have been waiting for such an opportunity for promotions LOL. Anyways, Facebook stays on top when it comes to annoying me; however it is also the second largest traffic source for me! So I gotta stick to it
Jane.
sooner google plus is going to take over facebook and twitter bez need something new and facebook is not giving to him…
Right now, I still use the Google Plus only for fun. I don’t see it as media to promote anything just yet. I don’t think I’m ready to use it for that purpose now.
Andrew, it takes time to learn and start using the network. But I must say that there is a potential crowd over there. You can use it for business, fun or just about anything. But, come on, you just gotta try and see how other features work
Knowing what we use google plus for will be of great benefits for us to expect the best result from the service than to keep on spamming the service for nothing. Thanks Jane for the information
Yes Olawale that’s the purpose of this post. Everyone will be using Google plus with a purpose. But if they are not aware of the other uses could Google plus they could be missing some valuable applications of the service. This post gives everyone an idea!
I am a big fan of Facebook as far as social networking is concerned. However I like most of the Google products as they are simple to use. So I wanted to take a look at Google plus and just used it to compare it with Facebook. So far I haven’t used it seriously.
Hey Jane,
I mostly use Google plus for business, but I love the circles feature because it will allow more privacy when connecting with family and friends!
Looking forward to see the new Google Plus Games showing in my profile page!
I mainly use Twitter and Facebook to promote my blog. I have signed up with Google+, but have yet to really do anything with it. I find that outside of those that have businesses online, I don’t really hear much about Google+. Among my friends, Facebook is still king, and Google will need to make some headway among those outside of the online world to compete.
I’m sure Google is working on a strategy.
Hi there. It’s a nice share from you. Very informative, and interesting!
I’m definitely using it for business networking more than personal!
I have a google plus account but I prefer facebook. I also think that is just another social media or maybe I just didn’t try to understand better. Maybe I’ll give it a second chance.
I joined G+ bcoz i am done with facebook. But still i prefer facebook more then G+
i love Google plus as it have more privacy features and facebook is becoming fake day by day
Hi Jane, I’ll be honest I don’t use Google + for anything really. I share some of our blog engage members content on it but I don’t have time to use it. I would rather focus on twitter marketing and blog engage marketing. What we have to do is find what works best for us and if that means not using some of the others I’m fine with that. This doesn’t mean I won’t eventually but for now I don’t use it at all. Actually I’ll share your article right now.
Thanks for being so honest Brian. Actually, I’m not surprised!
Hi Jane,
These excuses seem so familiar to me too as this is exactly what people on other social networks say! I guess they are just comfortable in their own zones and would not like to venture and try out something new. New things take time to adapt and get used to, which could be another reason and they may not be wanting to make a new circle of friends as well.
I joined Google+ for making new friends and contacts, and that is exactly what I love about it.
Thanks for sharing
there is a huge question who will win..but I mostly use Google plus for business..I’m sure Google working on a strategy…
I am still relatively new to using Google plus and the likes of Facebook and Twitter to generate business from them!!
I have read countless posts and yet have not seemed to grasp how you can formulate traffic and business from such sources?