Tech experts and online media gurus once dubbed Google+ as the “walking dead” of all social media platforms. Some fondly referred to it as an online ghost town. Admit it; sign in to your Google+ account. You have one, right? Chances are, that you barely even use it.
Google+ had the potential to become such a good social media platform if it hadn’t come in too late. If you can still remember, G+ appeared at the time when everybody was crazy about “liking” and “retweeting.” Frankly, G+ had (and still has) a wealth of features not found in any other social media platform. One of them is the Direct Connect feature that allows users to go directly to popular pages within the G+ database by beginning each search with a + sign and appending a few letters of what the searcher is using for.
The technology may not be new at all, but the branding idea behind it is brilliant. Other than making searches a whole lot easier, the function made G+ more known. Sadly, Google’s social layer removes this very function, and this is not without any repercussion.
The Repercussions
It might seem like G+ is living up to its titles as “walking dead” or “ghost town.” They have given their users some reason to dislike them, or worse, deactivate altogether. It’s easy to say that the effects of the change can be seen already, although it’s still unclear when Google+ killed it.
What’s clear is that repercussions are likely to manifest. Here are some of them:
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Loss of distinctiveness: G+’s reputation can be attributed to this very function.
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Creation of a divide between search and social: At a glance, G+ is a perfect combination of search and social. You can also look at it as an integration of social to search (or the other way around).
The Future of Google’s Social
Will they include a better functionality or will they remain stagnant, standing between the other social giants? No one knows what Google+’s moves will be. A more interesting question, however, is “What if Google Kills Google+?” This is a tough question to answer, as Google always insists that they have a talented team constantly working to improve their social layer. One viable and interesting projection: maybe Google+ will be converted into a platform with fewer and much needed functions (Think Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter). We can only guess.
What This Means for You
Google+ is still alive, and their decision to remove the + function may have little to no effect on your visibility. The only problem lies in the hand of the social media marketers who use this platform to search and monitor competitors.
To resolve this dilemma, you can use our services in the social aspect. We have social media marketers that will help you deliver the results your clients need. See our packages, contact our account managers, and don’t forget to read our posts.